In a surprise move, the Santa Barbara Sky FC has announced it will push back its debut in the USL Championship to 2027.
The team was expected to begin play next season, with home games at Harder Stadium on the campus of UC Santa Barbara. Instead, officials say they will take extra time to “do this the right way and build a club ready to thrive.”
“After careful evaluation, we’ve decided that Santa Barbara Sky will not be kicking off next season as planned,” club officials said in a statement released Friday. “This doesn’t mean we’re slowing down. We’re finalizing the ownership group and preparing for sanctioning, with a plan to take the field in March 2027.”
The Santa Barbara Sky is owned by Peter Moore, who as CEO of Liverpool FC helped the team to the English Premier League title in 2019-2020, the first championship for his hometown club in 30 years.
Moore now hopes to do the same as owner of the Santa Barbara Sky after buying the team in May 2022.
The British businessman settled permanently in the U.S. in 1981, earning a post-graduate degree from Cal State Long Beach the following year.
“I coached at Long Beach Veterans Memorial Stadium, where I lived in a trailer for two years with my then-wife,” Moore recalled. “I had no money to live anywhere, so we lived on a mobile home on the running track at the stadium. I took the money I made from coaching to pay the tuition fees for my master’s degree.”
That work allowed the now 70-year-old Moore to acquire a J-1 visa and eventually a green card.
Despite being more well-known for his work with Liverpool FC, Moore also got involved with Wrexham AFC, beginning in November 2020 as an adviser to owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
He most recently has been a board advisor and minority shareholder of Polish football club Wisła Kraków.
“My mom was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and my grandparents came over during the depression from Liverpool,” Moore said. “They got work in the shipyards but it didn’t last that long, and they went back when my mom was still a baby, never to return to America, but she had an American birth certificate.”
Moore and Santa Barbara Sky Chief Operating Officer Sheralyn Baltes have been active in recent months engaging soccer fans by organizing viewing parties. They hosted watch parties for the 2025 UEFA Champions League Final on May 31; the FIFA World Cup Final on July 13; the Liverpool-Bournemouth Premier League opener on Aug. 15; and the Liga MX rivalry game between Club América and the most popular and beloved team from Mexico, Chivas de Guadalajara, on Sept. 13, which Chivas won 2-1.
Baltes also serves as president of the Santa Barbara Soccer Club and was instrumental in bringing a new pitch to the 17,000-seat Harder Stadium earlier this year.
“There’s something so majestic about it,” Baltes said of the UCSB stadium, where the Sky will host their games. “On one side you see the mountains, and other side you can smell the ocean.”
Harder Stadium has also served as a training facility for the U.S. Women’s National Team and has been home to numerous international friendlies, including an exhibition match between Wrexham AFC and AFC Bournemouth on July 20.
“I think Harder Stadium is the best stadium in the USL by far,” Moore said. “We’re seeing a great level of interest within our database for merchandise sales, for subscribers to our social media channels and, perhaps most importantly, those who have committed to season tickets.
“We also have this unique opportunity here in Santa Barbara to rekindle the passion from about 30 years ago when Real Santa Barbara played,” he added.
Real Santa Barbara competed in the Western Soccer League in 1989 and in the American Professional Soccer League in 1990 with current UCSB men’s soccer coach Tim Vom Steeg on its roster. The team played home games at La Playa Stadium on the campus of Santa Barbara City College.
“It think we’re already the epicenter for Central Coast soccer, albeit at the youth level and you could argue collegiately with the success of UCSB,” Moore said.
“The work that Sheralyn and her predecessors have done at Santa Barbara Soccer Club gives us this amazing talent pool, combined with the recruiting that Tim Vom Steeg and his team have done at UCSB.”
While fans will now have to wait another year to see the Sky play, club officials say “it will be worth the wait.”
“From the beginning, our mission at Santa Barbara Sky FC has been to create more than just a team, the team said in its statement. “We’re building a community organization that reflects the rich soccer history, culture and people of every corner of the 805. This is soccer country.”
To keep up with the club, follow their Instagram or X accounts online.
