A lot is resting on the shoulders of Khano Smith.
Smith is the first coach and general manager of Rhode Island FC, responsible for laying the foundation for the new soccer team that aims to compete in the United Soccer League Championship, a second-tier American professional league.
The team he fields must not only focus on winning on the soccer pitch this year. It needs to win the hearts and minds of the Rhode Island public. The eventual goal is to get crowds to regularly attend matches at a sparkling riverfront stadium in Pawtucket, much the same way they did in the heyday of Pawtucket Red Sox games at the now-abandoned McCoy Stadium.
But that’s still a year away. The team is kicking off its inaugural season roughly 17 miles away in Smithfield, at Bryant University’s cozy Beirne Stadium on March 16.
Along with the team, the state and city of Pawtucket also have a lot riding on the upcoming season and the public support it could build for the 10,500-seat arena that’s under construction on the west bank of the Seekonk River, where the club will play starting in 2025.
“Hopefully we put a team on the field that Rhode Islanders can relate to. Players that work hard, and are a big part of the community, are good citizens in the community and provide a good source of entertainment for people,” Smith said recently.
That job has grown even more crucial, as grumbling increases about the ballooning cost of publicly financing a portion of the privately owned Tidewater Stadium. The $137 million venue is expected to be ready by the start of the next USL season.
But there’s a lot more at stake than the stadium. That’s just the first phase of what was touted by state leaders and developer Fortuitous Partners LLC in 2020 as a transformational $400 million waterfront development on both sides of the Seekonk River that included hundreds of housing units, a parking garage, retail and restaurants, an event center, hotel, riverwalks and a pedestrian bridge.
Initially, the state pledged $36 million raised with bonds to help pay for public infrastructure across multiple phases of the project. But that backing was diverted into helping Fortuitous get the stadium financed once it became clear its price tag was going to be much higher than first estimated, although officials emphasize that “no state dollars” will be invested until the stadium is completed.
Now, if thousands of people aren’t flocking to Tidewater Stadium starting in 2025, the larger sports-anchored development may be that much more difficult to pull off.
Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien says the city is already forging ahead with the preliminary work for a riverwalk next to the unfinished stadium and a pedestrian bridge that will connect to another planned riverwalk on the east bank of the Seekonk River.
And plans continue to take shape for the housing components of the project in part because of the city’s desperate need for workforce housing, the mayor says.
But Grebien acknowledges that the future of the larger development could be influenced by how effective Rhode Island FC is in drawing crowds.
“[Team success] will play a role in the retail and the hotel, but not necessarily the residential because … we don’t have enough of mid-level housing,” he said.
So far, the new soccer team seems to be making headway, although it has declined to release its financial details.
In recent months, Rhode Island FC has assembled 20 pro players, including two Rhode Island natives and others with international experience. And the team has landed sponsors such as Breeze Airways and Centreville Bank.
In December, a party unveiling the team’s home and away uniforms drew hundreds of supporters to the craft beer hall The Guild Brewing Co. in Pawtucket, which was also attended by team mascot Chip, an anthropomorphic harbor seal.
And Rhode Island FC has inked a cable TV deal with the New England Sports Network, although how many games will be broadcast hasn’t been finalized.
Meanwhile, team officials are projecting that the season opener at the 5,200-seat Beirne Stadium will be a sellout, and they say there has been “strong demand” for season tickets for all 17 home games.
The backers of Rhode Island FC are feeling confident, including Brett Johnson, a founding partner at Fortuitous Partners and chairman of the soccer team.
“We felt it was important to launch the team to get in market and show Rhode Island how committed we are to really creating a team first, and then by extension a place, meaning [Tidewater] stadium and the surrounding development, that will be an incredible source of pride for Rhode Islanders,” Johnson said.
[caption id="attachment_460877" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
MOMENTUM PLAY: Rhode Island FC head coach Khano Smith, left, oversees a preseason training session in January. The team is looking to build fan support in its inaugural season ahead of a new Pawtucket stadium opening next year.
PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
STICKER SHOCK
In the financial arena, it hasn’t been easy.
The Tidewater project has been buffeted in recent weeks by troubling reports about what taxpayers will be paying over decades to finance part of the arena alone.
Last month, the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency sold $54 million in tax-exempt bonds in collaboration with the state to help build the stadium. Those bonds would provide the $27 million the state had pledged for the project, but it’s estimated that taxpayers will shell out $132 million in principal and interest over the next 30 years to repay the bonds – far more than the $59 million that had been estimated two years ago. (State officials note that the bond issue allows for the redemption of the bonds after 10 years, a feature that could reduce the long-term cost.)
The debt is supposed to be paid back using taxes collected within a downtown Pawtucket redevelopment district that includes the Tidewater site.
The public assistance goes beyond that.
R.I. Commerce Corp. has authorized an additional $14 million in tax credits. And the city of Pawtucket has provided $10 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds and approved a tax treaty that will save the stadium owner – Fortuitous-affiliated Tidewater Stadium LLC – as much as $37 million in property taxes over 20 years.
For its part, Fortuitous has raised $50 million in private equity from unnamed sources to finance the stadium and the team. Delays in drumming up the final $14.5 million of the $50 million temporarily halted work on the stadium last summer.
Amid the fiscal hurdles, Rhode Island FC has pushed ahead, renting offices in downtown Pawtucket and hiring more than 20 front-office employees and another 10 on the sports staff. (The team expects to employ nearly 100 additional people on match days.)
Smith, a former pro who most recently was an assistant coach for another USL team, has signed a roster sprinkled with experienced pros, including veteran goalie Koke Vegas and striker Albert Dikwa, the leading goal scorer in the USL last season with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.
The club has not publicly disclosed the amounts it is paying its players, but Brett Luy, Rhode Island FC president, insists the team is committed to being competitive from the opening game against New Mexico United.
“I think the team does need to be successful on-field to really reach its full potential from both a commercial and a fan engagement perspective,” Luy said in January. “We’ve obviously been very forward and very vocal about our aspirations to win not just in the community but also on the pitch.”
DRAWING POWER
The question remains: Will there be enough interest in a minor-league soccer team to justify a $137 million stadium?
One sticking point might be the team’s proximity to the New England Revolution, according to a 58-page feasibility report assembled by Chicago-based C.H. Johnson Consulting Inc. in October 2023 and submitted to Pawtucket officials.
While concluding that there’s a strong interest in soccer in the region, the consultant (which has no relation to Brett Johnson) noted that Rhode Island FC will have overlapping fan markets and schedules with the Revolution, a top-tier Major League Soccer team that plays 16 miles away at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., and has an average attendance of 21,000.
What’s more, the report said, residents who live in communities closer to Gillette Stadium tend to have higher levels of disposable income than those around the Providence and Pawtucket area, meaning a greater ability to buy tickets, merchandise and concessions.
“Convincing those fans with more disposable income … to choose Rhode Island FC will be crucial to the success of the team and of the stadium,” the report said.
Nevertheless, Johnson Consulting concluded that a riverfront stadium and surrounding development could be a difference maker, “providing a new, urban high-quality fan experience at a price that is more affordable” to attract visitors, as well as Tidewater Stadium’s smaller capacity creating a “more intimate, energetic environment.”
The club’s average ticket price of $29.50 – less expensive than the $38 average for Revolution games – will also help attract fans who are looking for a more affordable option, the consultant said.
Indeed, team officials are buoyed by ticket sales so far.
[caption id="attachment_460837" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
TAKING SHAPE: Workers climb on the steel beams that will make up the southern end of Tidewater Stadium in Pawtucket. The concrete foundation on the west grandstand has already been installed. Officials say the stadium along the Seekonk River will be complete by March 2025.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
Although the club hasn’t revealed how many ticket packages it has sold, in January Luy was already talking about capping the number of season tickets it would make available so some seats would be open for individual game ticket buyers.
“We’re frankly probably only 500 or so tickets away from reaching that cap,” he said in January. “We don’t want really more than probably 60-ish percent of the building … being comprised of season tickets. We expect and anticipate that we sell out every single game.”
Ervin Vargas is ready to be a part of the experience.
Vargas helped form a fan club called Defiance 1636, and about 200 Rhode Islanders already have paid $10 to $30 to join.
Vargas, now the club president, has been a soccer fan since his childhood in Guatemala. He says members of his club, many with Latino and Portuguese roots, have their own section at Beirne Stadium where they intend to chant, sing and bring a 15-piece band to every game.
He says the cheapest season ticket package for Rhode Island FC is $255, considerably cheaper than the $485 he was quoted for season tickets to the Revolution’s 18 home games. Vargas says he is not the only local soccer fan to drop their Revolution season tickets for Rhode Island FC.
“It’s the soccer that people want,” he said.
Nick Sakiewicz agrees.
He’s CEO of Hartford Athletic, Rhode Island FC’s nearest USL competitor, where the team plays at Trinity Health Stadium that seats about 5,500 for soccer matches.
Hartford Athletic has changed head coaches five times since joining the USL in 2019 and finished near the bottom of the standings of the 24-team league last season. But still, the team has its diehard fans, Sakiewicz says.
Hartford Athletic sold out six home games last year despite only winning four games and on average fills 93% of the stadium’s seating capacity.
“Soccer now is an American sport,” Sakiewicz said. “When you look at the demographic shift in this country and look at the immigrant population, they’re all coming from soccer-passionate countries. They’re adopting clubs like Hartford Athletic, and they will adopt the Rhode Island team for sure as their hometown team.”
David Roach, director of the sports management program at Rhode Island College, says even moderate success on the soccer pitch in the 2024 season would generate enough momentum for Rhode Island FC’s first season at Tidewater Stadium, even with the larger capacity.
“I think going from 5,000 to 10,000 is really not that big a jump,” he said. “I really think that the attraction of the new venue and the different amenities and things that go around it will be a big plus. Once you have a nice stadium, you bring your family and all that stuff.”
GRAND DESIGNS?
The economic development plans for Pawtucket were sweeping when they were announced in December 2019 by then-Gov. Gina M. Raimondo.
The city, still reeling from the PawSox’s decision to relocate after the 2020 season, would see a $400 million project transforming the riverfront. Initially, plans included an event center, a 200-room hotel, 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, 200,000 square feet of commercial space, and more than 200 housing units, as well as the stadium.
The project would employ tax increment financing, using new state and city tax revenue from the extensive development to pay for the public investment.
But things soon changed. First, after COVID-19 struck, the plans were pared down to a smaller section of the riverfront.
Then when the cost of the stadium climbed from $84 million to $124 million, a divided R.I. Commerce board voted to divert the promised public investment away from other parts of the project and into the stadium. Gov. Daniel J. McKee cast the tiebreaking vote despite one board member, Michael McNally, expressing concerns that “we’re going to end up with a stadium and nothing else.”
Indeed, it’s fuzzy exactly where financing plans for some of the future phases stand, at least publicly.
Last September, Daniel Kroeber, Fortuitous Partners managing partner, told the Pawtucket City Council that the construction of housing – part of a so-called Phase 1B – would be likely delayed a year because the developer had been focused on raising money for the stadium.
And recently, Fortuitous did not directly answer a question about how it would finance the rest of the Tidewater development, telling Providence Business News in an email that Phase 1B – including the pedestrian bridge, riverwalk, housing and retail – is “moving ahead.”
“Fortuitous Partners continues to partner with the city and are finalizing surveying work, recently completed environmental permitting and will soon issue [a request for quotes] for the supporting public infrastructure along the east side of the Seekonk [River] for the pedestrian bridge and riverwalk,” the developer said. “Additionally, the development team is working to refine the housing and retail components of the development.”
R.I. Commerce says $1.5 million from the recent $54 million bond issue has been designated for the design of additional Tidewater phases.
And Grebien confirms that design and permitting work is underway for the riverwalk and the pedestrian bridge, using a $350,000 grant from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank. But beyond that, he acknowledges that future phases are open-ended right now and subject to change depending on the demands of the market.
“We haven’t fine-tuned it,” Grebien said.
GAMES AND MORE
Despite the financial stumbles that for many Rhode Islanders have stirred memories of the failed 38 Studios deal, optimism remains among local leaders that Tidewater Landing will be a massive economic driver.
In addition to the 17 USL games at Tidewater Stadium annually, Fortuitous projects the venue will host another three exhibition or playoff games, two concerts and two other large events in its first year of operation.
By the fifth year of operation, Johnson Consulting estimates that the stadium could draw 270,000 visitors, lead to the booking of 13,000 hotel room nights, generate $26.8 million in direct spending on-site and off-site, and support 260 jobs.
“You know, it was a [contaminated industrial] brownfield, but now it’s going to be an active zone for not only the residents but people who come in and visit,” Grebien said.
Rep. Jennifer Stewart, D-Pawtucket, who represents the neighborhood around the stadium, is cautiously upbeat about the future of the stadium and proposed surrounding development.
But she acknowledges there’s frustration that aspects of the larger project have been delayed.
“The housing development, the mixed use, businesses, maybe places to eat, kind of fun places to go … I think [there is] some disappointment that it was only the stadium portion to get sort of the initial green light,” she said. “The other parts of the project that made it potentially more interesting, thinking about long-term, year-round development in Pawtucket, that those were the parts that were less certain.”
Fortuitous officials insist those amenities will come.
For now, Smith and Rhode Island FC are focused on building momentum at the Bryant University stadium ahead of their move to Pawtucket.
“I expect that we’ll sell out the home opener and then that momentum will carry throughout the rest of the season,” Johnson said. “What this year is about is putting an outstanding product on the pitch and having people come to our games and have an incredible experience.
“It’s really about setting the team up on and off the pitch as we march toward Tidewater Landing,” he said.
