Can you remind us when FC Buffalo was founded, by whom, and what was its mission?
There's a preposterous origin story I'll get to, but our mission is to make a lasting, community-first professional soccer club in Buffalo that makes the game available to all Buffalonians, regardless of resources, class, or any human differentiator -- creed, identity, race, culture. The professional part is the trickiest aspects due to venues, but development is happening and we've been helping brick-by-brick and leading when we can.

How did we start? To over-simplify, Buffalo had a very good NPSL team, Queen City FC, that essentially ran out of resources due to travel costs for the playoffs and I was a season ticket holder. One of their owners and I were in bands and played shows together. I followed the next group from my job in the media -- Buffalo City FC -- and their comms guy was one of my closest friends. No one was ready to pick up the mantle when he left, and the NPSL still wanted a presence in Buffalo. The comms guy, Scott Frauenhofer and I, recruited some friends and at 27-30 years old with essentially no resources, we gave it a shot -- Worst-case scenario we'd look back on it as the time the guys with no money tried to make professionally-run soccer work here.

How does the club connect to the community off the pitch? Are the men and women's squads involved in any programs or volunteerism?
This has evolved over the years -- From the "Change Kits" we made first as an anti-racism initiative and then in the wake of the tragic and racially-driven Tops mass shooting in Buffalo to partnering with the local Ukrainian American group to run our concessions and donate all proceeds to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. We try to be adaptable so that what we love -- soccer -- can be what is it in the clubs we admire here and abroad -- more than the sport itself.

We started by making sure each season included aims to raise funds or awareness for the many incredible groups in our area as well as drives for the underserved in and outside of our games. We also had a good history with the local school system around here where we would hold events and shine a light on the terrific talent that was coming out of the refugee- and immigrant-heavy parts of our city. Over time, we've adapted to be more of the infrastructure in terms of that spotlight -- providing teams or boosting groups that were serving those underserved players.

On the pitch, it looks like your men finished last in the Valley Division - in the offseason, what did the club do to address that? What will you be working on to improve your position and challenge for playoffs?
We know our first season in USL was going to be a massive undertaking, and prepared as such. But an almost comical run of issues arose and we had a brutal run of injury issues including our top recruit tearing his achilles a week before he was due to come to Buffalo. We were 1W-2D-1L after four games and did poorly handling four games in 18 days -- all losses. We've rebooted our operation. New coach Sean Hallas was with Syracuse last season and has an eye for recruitment. He'll deliver there and train his eye on restoring care to the squad from Player No. 1 to 26 (ish). We'll have to return our home form to a place of strength after failing to give our supporters including o.g. SG The Situation Room much on the men's side at home last season. We traveled for our finale with less than 18 men and caretaker boss Trevor Lawler and came away with a point as spoilers against a team looking to make the playoffs. I'll never forget that spirit from that group of guys. Fun was back. We're gonna have a lot more fun this summer.

The FC Buffalo women finished first in the UWS' East Division with a league best +38 Goal Difference - how does the squad follow up that performance? How do you up the game and win the league?
We're really proud of our women's team and not afraid to point to the wealth of talent produced by our area for so long. Our standards are very high and we've spent much of the offseason seeking to both strengthen and grow our staff and team. We're fortunate that the best players in our area bought into the idea and that so many up and down our spine -- just look at captain Carissima Cutrona, center mid Dani Vis, center back Tess Ford amongst others (naming names is dangerous) -- have put in passion and dedication to match their talent. We aimed to have a women's team that was run as well as any men's team and had the same aim of one day reaching professional status. It's been a ride, and we're confident that 2x coach of the year Nikki Bartholomew is going to push all the buttons to have us back in the National Championship Weekend.

FC Buffalo has a strong brand identity and a unique badge - do you have any merch, kits, or scarves in the works? What can fans expect?
We have a lot of stuff at fcbuffalostore.com. It's funny you mention the badge because there was a time where there was consideration of a reboot. But as time has gone on and has shown so many groups opting for a similar premise for their design -- many of which look outstanding -- the shape of ours has started to feel a bit more classic. We have a new scarf celebrating Buffalo's nickname of The Nickel City due to the now inactive buffalo nickel, and we're very excited to deliver on a couple new kit pieces including a new Change Kit.

As you build up to the new regular seasons, does the club have any interesting friendlies or preseason games for us to get ready for?
We have to wait on the completion of our schedules for USL2 and UWS, but there are options out there. For now we've been focused on more events to get soccer fans, youth players, and our players/staff together in public. The vitality of our fan base and the connection with our team leading up to the pandemic was special. We can't wait to experience it again and again and again as we've returned to some semblance of public normalcy.

Want to know more or get involved?
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