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Brett Johnson has fond memories of Rhode Island. As a Brown University rowing team member, Johnson spent endless hours traversing the Seekonk River training and racing.
So when the Benevolent Capital Co-Founder and CEO sought to launch a new professional soccer team, unsurprisingly, the smallest U.S. state had made the top of his list for prospective locations.
“Rhode Islanders have basically been subsidizing teams in Massachusetts and New York, and to a certain extent in Connecticut,” said Johnson, Rhode Island FC chairman and co-founder. “Rhode Island deserves a stadium like we built, they deserve a team like we have, and they deserve everything else that will come as a result of this stadium.”
Image credit: Rhode Island FC
Rhode Island FC isn’t Johnson’s first foray into football—or soccer, as we say here in the States.
Johnson, who built Benevolent Capital into a successful private equity fund with investments across real estate, manufacturing, and consumer brands, is also the founder and partner at Fortuitous Partners and looked to add sports to his portfolio.
So in 2016, he bought a minority stake in Arizona United SC, which was rebranded to Phoenix Rising FC. Inspired by the club’s success on and off the field, Johnson’s football focus doubled in 2019 when he announced plans to launch Rhode Island FC.
“This isn’t a bold statement, but I feel there are too many overlooked and certainly too many underserved markets from a professional sports perspective,” said Johnson, also a director and shareholder of Ipswich Town FC in England. “I believe these sporting franchises are truly part of the community.”
Launching the estimated $400 million Tidewater Landing mixed-use development project on two sites totaling 25 acres on both sides of the Seekonk River, the entire endeavor is anchored by a 10,500-seat, multi-use stadium. Centreville Bank Stadium welcomed a sellout crowd of 10,700 for its inaugural match on May 3, declared “Rhode Island Football Club Day” by Governor Dan McKee, who cast the tie-breaking vote in July 2022 to approve the plan for the stadium and development on the Tidewater Landing site.
The stadium is part of a larger public-private partnership in downtown Pawtucket, which will bring housing, restaurants, retail stores, and recreational amenities to the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution after losing its minor-league baseball team, the Pawtucket Red Sox, in 2019, and potentially toy maker Hasbro.
Through Fortuitous Partners, a leading real estate investment and development company with a focus on pro sports-anchored real estate developments, Johnson and Rhode Island FC ownership raised $50 million in private investment for the stadium—the largest private capital investment in any Rhode Island development in over a century—as they had to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, and rising construction costs to get to opening day.
The City of Pawtucket provided $10 million in federal ARPA pandemic relief funds, while the public financing part of the project ($54 million in bonds) was issued through the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency.
Borrowing a blueprint from projects in larger cities, including Los Angeles and Atlanta, Johnson hopes Tidewater Landing can help rewrite the playbook for sports expansion across the U.S., giving smaller communities more than a new, local team to root for.
“We’ve proven an expansion franchise in a smaller market can figure out how to finance a brand new soccer-specific stadium,” he said. “That’s a game changer in my opinion.”
Image credit: Rhode Island FC
While Major League Soccer (MLS) continues its own expansion, recently welcoming San Diego FC as the 30th club for a record $500 million fee, the United Soccer League (USL) offers investors like Johnson a more affordable entry into professional soccer in the U.S.
Comprised of three men’s leagues (USL Championship, USL League One, and USL League Two) with plans to add a Division One league at the top of its structure in 2027, USL’s blueprint for success is finding mid-size cities and markets longing for professional sports, particularly soccer.
With an expansion strategy prioritizing stadium-anchored entertainment districts, the USL is currently working in approximately 70 markets around the country in various stages to not only provide more professional playing opportunities for players, but, more importantly, boost underserved communities through multi-use development, economic impact, and civic pride.
The USL Championship is set to grow to 30 clubs by 2026, with new teams in Brooklyn, Dallas, and Santa Barbara, California. USL League One has 14 teams competing this season, including five new clubs: AV Alta, FC Naples (Florida), Portland Hearts of Pine (Maine), Texoma FC, and Westchester SC. The USL Super League, a Division One pro women’s league that launched in August 2024 with eight clubs, recently announced a landmark partnership with Gainbridge, securing the first-ever naming rights deal for a pro soccer league in U.S. history.
Image credit: Rhode Island FC
“These projects can take two years, they can take five years, they can take 10 years, and some never happen, but we happen to have a very good batting average—to mix sports metaphors—in getting these deals over the line,” said Justin Papadakis, USL deputy chief executive officer & chief real estate officer. “I can say that 2025 will be the largest ever in terms of new professional clubs being formed, and that’s exciting.
“When you look back at the goal of the [1994] World Cup to accelerate the growth of professional men’s soccer in the United States and you bookend that with the 2026 World Cup, to see where we are in 2026 in terms of the number of professional clubs and stadiums across the United States, it’s nothing short of amazing.”
Existing and upcoming projects in Jacksonville, Florida, Northwest Arkansas, Antelope Valley, California, North Texas, and Milwaukee signal the seemingly unquenchable thirst for professional soccer in the U.S. that the USL continues to fuel.
Buffalo Pro Soccer announced in April plans to construct a 7,600-seat, privately funded stadium near the Buffalo River, which would anchor an emerging entertainment district featuring ShotClub Social Buffalo and The Powerhouse, a premier events center. In March, the Roswell City Council unanimously approved a Letter of Intent between the city and USL to explore the possibility of developing a women’s soccer stadium-anchored entertainment district in the Georgia city, making it home to both a USL Super League women’s and USL Championship men’s professional club.
Not only does the USL make expansion more affordable compared to MLS and NWSL—USL Championship expansion fees were $12 million in 2020 (the league wouldn’t comment on current fees)—the appeal of adding women’s clubs under the same umbrella makes the opportunity even more appealing to owners and investors like Johnson.
“We call our stadiums our community living rooms and we really think that that’s the right term for it because there really aren’t too many other places where the community can come together as one, week in and week out, unified around one mission and that’s having their team win on the pitch,” Papadakis said. “It’s something we take a lot of pride in, and we want to make sure that our fans have a first-class experience.
“… They don’t have to drive two hours each way to go watch a professional sporting event. They can go right down the street. And those players live in the communities. They raise their families in those communities. They are part of the fabric of the community. So there’s this inherent really strong connection, and if you’ve seen some of the footage from those games, that is what the USL is all about.”
Image credit: Rhode Island FC
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