Rhode Island FC take next big step with Centreville Bank Stadium – with Brett Johnson

Since its founding in 2019 and integration into the USL in 2022, Rhode Island FC have quickly become a central figure in the state’s sporting landscape. The club has now taken its next major step with the opening of the new Centreville Bank Stadium.

Inaugurated in May 2025, the 10,500+ seat stadium in Pawtucket is not only the official home of RIFC but also a fully electric, state-of-the-art venue. It’s already playing host to a wide range of sporting events, entertainment, and community activities across the Ocean State.

World Soccer Talk spoke with Brett Johnson — owner of Rhode Island FC, Phoenix Rising FC, and co-owner of Ipswich Town — to discuss the stadium’s early impact and its broader role in Rhode Island’s sports and cultural development.

A strong debut for Centreville Bank Stadium

Just months into operation, Centreville Bank Stadium has already delivered on its promise. Fans and visitors have responded enthusiastically — something Johnson attributes to both the venue’s world-class design and the atmosphere it creates.

“Anyone who’s had the pleasure of attending a game or an event at the stadium, the reviews are incredible. It is a world-class, multi-purpose. Rectangular sports facility. It’s in an incredible market, which is Rhode Island. It’s in an incredible location, which is right off the main highway, right on a river. It’s beautiful. It’s stunningly beautiful.

“But the architectural designs and experience that goes into these new venues in terms of there’s not a bad seat in in the entire stadium. There’s not one seat that you wouldn’t be happy to watch the game from. The proximity to the pitch is fantastic. The amenities, the food, the hospitality section.

“And in our short period of time, we’re only in our second month of being open. We’ve hosted professional men’s and women’s rugby. We’ve obviously had our our professional men’s team. We’ve had a friendly between Puerto Rico and Nicaragua. It’s become very quickly exactly what I intended it to become, which is the sports and entertainment capital for southern New England and and we’ll start to host concerts in there as well. We’re creating a lot of jobs, but I’d say most importantly, a stadium like this, in a market like this, it brings the community together.”

The vision behind a multi-sport venue

While soccer is the stadium’s centerpiece, Johnson’s vision has always included a wider portfolio. In June, Centreville Bank Stadium hosted the 2025 Major League Rugby Championship — a sign of things to come.

“Well, these things are not a faint of heart. To build a world-class stadium is expensive, especially if you’re going to be in a market like Rhode Island. You need to offer a lot more than the 20 games that we would provide with our men’s team. And so that’s where over time, rugby, lacrosse, American football, flag football, concerts, women’s soccer, they all become very, very important additions.

“It’s a long way of my saying that there are a lot of sports teams, there’s a lot of sports leagues that are looking for the size stadium that we have in Rhode Island. We’ve sold out several of our games. The Major League Rugby Championship, they they filled the lower bowl and on television it looked fantastic in person. The energy was fantastic.”

Centreville Bank Stadium holds just over 10,000 fans, making it one of the largest venues in Rhode Island. But for Johnson, that size was carefully chosen — a lesson learned from soccer’s early missteps in the U.S.

“Look, drawing 20,000 fans in a 70,000 seat stadium is not a good experience. That’s what that’s what almost killed Major League Soccer 20 years ago until they built in Columbus the first soccer specific stadium. So I’m taking a page from the MLS playbook, which is recognizing that a world-class soccer specific stadium in the right location at the right size with the right team in the right market. That’s a smart business plan and it wasn’t easy to get this done. But now that we’ve gotten it done and now that people are seeing just the quality of it, I think it’s encouraging a lot.

Comparing US and UK models, and RIFC’s deeper purpose

As CEO of Benevolent Capital and co-owner of English Championship side Ipswich Town, Brett Johnson has a unique perspective on both American and European soccer. While the experiences offer valuable insight, he acknowledges key differences that must be addressed if the U.S. hopes to reach the level of its European counterparts.

“Ipswich is 150 year old historic club that has previously won the equivalent of the Premier League. It won the FA Cup, it won the Champions League. So it’s a really unique asset. The quick difference is that in the United States, this is a start-up. These are new enterprises. You’re building brand new fan bases. You’re educating a lot of people in America that candidly were following baseball before.

“In the Rhode Island market, there was a very successful, beloved baseball team that picked up and left Rhode Island and moved to Massachusetts. That was the motivation for me to bring soccer, specifically USL, to Rhode Island. I was unhappy to see that Rhode Island lost their baseball team and I recognized I’m very opposed to it.

“I think sports teams are part of the community. They’re a public asset. I view my role in Rhode Island, my role at Ipswich, I’m a steward of a public asset, of a community asset. I’m not shy about saying that. I was very unhappy when I heard that the baseball team was leaving. I went to Brown University in Rhode Island. I was very aware of how important that team was to the state, and I guess with humility, I decided to do something about it. I decided to bring professional soccer to a very, very strong demographic market that resonates with the sport.”

But the success of the Centerville Bank is not due to luck of a first-months boom. The strategic positioning of the stadium has been one of the main points for it, not only to be accessible for the locals, but also attractive for those who are as a tourist in Rhode Island.

“I have a thesis with professional sports that I always joke. If I ever write a book, it’ll be the shortest book ever. It’s location, location, location. You know the importance of our stadium, everyone who drives by on the main highway, Interstate 95, sees our stadium. You can’t go in or out of the state of Rhode Island without seeing our stadium. You want to go to a game. It’s easy to get off the highway to park and go to our stadium.

“That’s important. That visibility is important. That location is important. The baseball team, part of what they were struggling with is the stadium was 80 years old and it was several miles away from the highway.“

Soccer culture: U.S. vs. England

Johnson acknowledges that American and English soccer cultures are fundamentally different. But he believes American fans are catching on — especially younger ones: “Yeah, completely different. But anyone who’s passionate about the sport there, there’s something so attractive to the running clock of soccer. The action never stops, you know, unlike American baseball or basketball or American football.”

“The action is constantly stopping. They’re stopping for commercial breaks, etcetera. Increasingly, I think a lot of people are getting attracted to the game because it’s exciting and you don’t want to leave your seat. You want to watch the full game. If you turn your head for 30 seconds, you’ll miss something.

Still, he knows awareness remains a challenge: “The biggest issue is we’re we’re now trying to educate the market on the fact that our team exists. We’re trying to get people to watch the product, see it. And the stadium’s a big draw. When people come through the stadium, they want to come back. It’s that good. But it’s a lot of work to kind of get these things. But in a short period of time, in the first season, we made it all the way.”

“I think increasingly the what I’ll call the amount of pride that Rhode Islanders have for the fact that they now have their own football club, their own soccer club, Rhode Island FC: if you’re a rugby fan, we have rugby games; if you’re a college football fan, we’re going to have college football games; if you’re a music fan, we’re going to have concerts. So it’s really about being what I call the sports and entertainment capital for the state.

“The whole state gets behind that team, especially when it’s doing well. Now I think our stadium and our team is representing a similar source of pride for Rhode Islanders that care about the state and care about sports that get played in a stadium like ours.”

Looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup

For the first time in history, the World Cup will be hosted by three countries— the United States, Canada, and Mexico. FIFA projects a total attendance of 6.52 million across all stadiums, with international visitors expected to make up 40% of that figure. This presents a unique opportunity for clubs like Rhode Island FC to attract new fans and engage with a global audience.

“We’d love to find ways to work with the organizers and we’re talking about that. Let’s say Colombia is in a big game and let’s say they’re playing in Houston. We can host a watch party at our stadium. There’s a big Colombian contingent in the state of Rhode Island. We’ll figure it’s too far out to to quantify exactly what it looks like. But obviously we couldn’t be more excited about the fact that so many games are going to be so close.

“Leading up to it, we probably going to host some friendlies for some clubs that want to come over. We already hosted one. I know we’re in talks to others, but I can see the millions of people who are going to come travel to the United States. In any way, I think there’s going to be a great deal of economic activity that Rhode Island will benefit from the World Cup.”

Brett Johnson, fully invested in Rhode Island FC

Committed to soccer on both sides of the Atlantic — in the U.S. with Rhode Island FC and in England with Ipswich Town — Brett Johnson has made the sport his life’s work. With RIFC and its new stadium representing his most ambitious project to date, Johnson remains focused on what lies ahead and the legacy he hopes to build.

“I’m the principal owner of the team. With humility, I have dedicated 7 years to make this a reality. It wasn’t easy. I’m very proud of it. So you’re not going to find anyone who’s more passionate and more dedicated to the success of it. But I have aspirations to help other markets to realize what we’ve achieved here.

“It’s important to me that the league that I dedicate so much attention to, USL, is as successful as possible. But we’re the first expansion team to build a stadium, and to achieve what we’ve achieved for a lower level league it’s great. We’ve successfully achieved a lot of firsts, which again I hope becomes an inspiration for a lot of other markets to emulate.”

RIFC’s mission: Develop the stars of tomorrow

In less than five years since joining the USL, Rhode Island FC has centered its mission on developing young talent, providing a platform for players to launch their careers toward the sport’s highest levels. Backed by Johnson’s vision and leadership, the club is determined to make that ambition a reality.

“The future’s bright, and increasingly I’m very excited to see the ability for my team and my league, USL, because I do believe it’s going to start to develop some of the best young talent. I think it’s real superpower is that Rhode Island are going to say that they remember when some young player was playing for us who now, God willing, is playing in the Premier League.

“I’m very focused on finding and signing some of the best talent both in the United States and abroad that need and want quality minutes, that can develop with us in front of a good crowd and that we can look and and have them move on to bigger and better stages. I think USL superpower is providing better quality minutes to younger players than almost any other league in the world.”