For two years the Santa Barbara community has been buzzing about the promise of a professional sports team in the city.
In the summer of 2022, the Santa Barbara Sky was announced as the newest expansion soccer team for the United Soccer League One. Merchandise was sold and season tickets were made available, promising a kickoff in 2024.
When founding owner Peter Moore unveiled the framework for the organization, the plan was to field a team and begin play during the 2024 USL One season – a season that begins this Saturday and doesn’t include the Sky on the schedule.
On top of this, the most recent update from USL One regarding the Santa Barbara expansion team came in 2022 with the announcement of the team.
Despite several inquiries, the Santa Barbara Sky has not provided an update on their organization and the plans going forward to Noozhawk.
The Santa Barbara Sky Wikipedia page, meanwhile, states that “the team plans to play in USL League One beginning in 2025.”
The organization itself has not updated its website or social media accounts since January 2023, leaving the local community in the dark.
There have not been any announcements regarding the team’s roster, their home field or plans for reimbursing the fans who paid a deposit for 2024 season tickets, which were made available when the team was announced in 2022.
When the team was announced, the plans for the future seemed to be set. As reported by Noozhawk in 2022, the organization would field a men’s and women’s team in the USL, which is the largest professional soccer organization in North America.
Sky FC is part of League One’s expansion plan to “launch new clubs in markets that possess strong local ownership groups, populations with broad-based diversity, a vibrant millennial and strong family base, established corporate support, and stadiums to properly showcase the sport for fans, partners and the public,” according to the USL website.
At the time, Santa Barbara City College’s La Playa Stadium was named the future home of the Sky. However, the team made the announcement before having a contract with the college.
Since then, the organization’s website has been updated to say “Santa Barbara Sky FC’s home venue will be announced soon.”
Although the future of the team may be murky, it is clear that there will be no professional soccer in Santa Barbara in 2024.
After this story was initially published, Peter Moore, SB Sky Founding Owner issued this statement:
“Santa Barbara Sky FC will now commence play in USL in the spring of 2025, and we look forward to bringing top-class professional soccer to a community that has fully-embraced The World’s Game. Details regarding the full ownership structure and our home stadium will be announced in the coming weeks. We would like to thank our fans and partners for their patience and commitment as we work our way towards making this dream a reality here in Santa Barbara.”
