Local tourism officials are already starting to gear up for the gridiron matchup between the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Notre Dame scheduled to take place at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., two years from now.
But in some ways, they’re not anticipating a repeat of the economic jolt Rhode Island received from the Army-Navy game at Gillette last year.
When the Naval Academy faced the U.S. Military Academy in their annual football game in 2023, about 750 of the approximately 1,700 midshipmen who traveled to region for the event slept in cots at the R.I. Convention Center. Many families and fans stayed at nearby hotels.
That event brought a $3 million direct economic impact to Rhode Island, tourism leaders say.
But this time, the convention center will have no formal role in the logistics of the Navy-Notre Dame game and won’t be housing midshipmen, according to R.I. Convention Center Authority Executive Director Daniel P. McConaghy.
Still, there will be benefits.
Despite kickoff almost two years away, Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO and President Kristen Adamo says the agency is already in the early stages of planning the marketing push to steer visitors in Greater Boston to choose hotels in the Providence area instead.
The bureau now books more than 110,000 hotel room nights annually in Providence and Warwick.
The 101st meeting between the two teams will be the first time the rivalry will be decided in New England. And it will mark the first snap ever taken by the Fighting Irish at Gillette.
For several consecutive years, the PWCVB was able to plan media buys in the fall as if a New England Patriots playoff berth was already cemented, allowing a jump-start on marketing directly to cities next on the playoff schedule to draw visitors to Rhode Island, Adamo says.
But with the struggling Patriots no longer hosting playoff games in Foxborough – at least for now – the bureau has more resources to devote to other events.
The sports business has been growing into a lucrative submarket, cumulatively accounting for more than half of the hotel room bookings arranged by the agency last year.
Events on the horizon include the first and second rounds of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, which will draw eight teams and their fans to the Amica Mutual Pavilion next March. Also, seven matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup are scheduled to be played at Gillette.
“The business of sports in Rhode Island is booming,” Adamo said.
Jonathan Walker, chief of the PWCVB’s Rhode Island Sports Commission, says the Navy-Notre Dame game may not be on the level locally of the Army-Navy game because most midshipmen won’t be in town.
“But both of these fan bases are humongous,” he said, noting that attendance at the most recent game at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey was more than 71,000.
Rhode Island also has certain logistical advantages over Boston, local tourism officials say. Providence offers cheaper hotel rates, as well as a train bringing fans straight to the station adjacent to Gillette Stadium.
“We always sell the fact that we are slightly closer to the stadium than Boston,” Adamo said.
Newport resident Gregory Adams, president of the Rhode Island chapter of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association, says the game’s arrival to Gillette will bring with it an army of fans. And many active and retired naval personnel have a love of the Ocean State because of institutions such as the Naval War College and Naval Station Newport, Adams says.
“We are a Navy town,” he said. “The only bad thing is that this game is more than a year away.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect number of hotel room nights booked annually in Providence and Warwick. The Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau says the number is 110,000.
