PAWTUCKET – Rhode Island FC’s inaugural season will kick off March 16 at home at Bryant University’s Beirne Stadium in Smithfield hosting New Mexico United as part of a 34-match schedule running from mid-March through the end of October that the expansion soccer club announced Monday.
The club’s schedule features between three to six matches each month, with mostly weekend kickoffs. The month of August has Rhode Island FC playing in six matches. Rhode Island FC also has four matches taking place on Wednesdays, per its schedule – the others being played on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Some notable home matches for Rhode Island FC include an April 27 match against the 2023 United Soccer League Championship champions, Phoenix Rising FC, an Aug. 10 match against Hartford Athletic and an Aug. 31 match against Birmingham Legion FC – Rhode Island FC General Manager and Head Coach Khano Smith’s former club. The club’s regular season will conclude Oct. 26 at home against Miami FC.
Official start times for all matches are still to be announced.
“Our fans can finally start marking their calendar and making plans to see Rhode Island FC in action,” club President Brett Luy said in a statement. “Our team has been busy building a club for all Rhode Island and we’re putting all the pieces together to ensure that our club is competing for trophies from day one. Demand for season tickets remains strong and we encourage fans to act quickly to secure their seats for the home opener and the rest of the inaugural season.”
Additionally, Rhode Island FC had earlier announced that it has added 250 seats to Beirne Stadium to bring the capacity of
the club’s temporary home to 5,252. Rhode Island FC said additional seats are being added to the stadium’s east side field seats sections and the west bleachers, sections that had previously sold out.
Luy told reporters back in June that the stadium’s capacity needed to be increased to meet the USL’s fixed-seat capacity requirement while Rhode Island FC’s future permanent Tidewater Landing stadium is under construction. The club also said that with the new seats at Bryant’s stadium, “limited” season ticket packages are still available in all sections.
Rhode Island FC spokesperson Mike Raia told Providence Business News there is no public cost for the club's partnership with Bryant but declined to disclose the terms or specifics of the agreement with the university.
Rhode Island FC’s matches will also be televised on the New England Sports Network after the club and the Boston-based regional sports network reached a multiyear agreement, the club also recently announced. The exact number of televised matches will be announced next month.
Ticket packages can be purchased through
the club’s website. Rhode Island FC’s full 2024 schedule is as follows:
- March 16 vs. New Mexico United
- March 24 at Monterey Bay FC
- March 30 at Tampa Bay Rowdies
- April 6 vs. Charleston Battery
- April 13 vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds
- April 20 at Las Vegas Lights FC
- April 27 vs. Phoenix Rising FC
- May 4 at North Carolina FC
- May 11 vs. Sacramento Republic FC
- May 17 at Switchbacks FC
- May 25 vs. Louisville City FC
- June 1 at Hartford Athletic
- June 8 vs. Detroit City FC
- June 12 at Memphis 901 FC
- June 22 at Louisville City FC
- June 26 vs. El Paso Locomotive FC
- July 5 vs. Indy Eleven
- July 13 at Miami FC
- July 17 at Birmingham Legion FC
- July 27 vs. North Carolina FC
- Aug. 3 at Detroit City FC
- Aug. 7 at Indy Eleven
- Aug. 10 vs. Hartford Athletic
- Aug. 17 vs. Oakland Roots SC
- Aug. 24 at Loudoun United FC
- Aug. 31 vs. Birmingham Legion FC
- Sept. 7 at Pittsburgh Riverhounds
- Sept. 14 at Orange County FC
- Sept. 21 vs. FC Tulsa
- Sept. 28 at San Antonio FC
- Oct. 5 vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies
- Oct. 12 vs. Loudoun United FC
- Oct. 19 at Charleston Battery
- Oct. 26 vs. Miami FC
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
