(Editor’s note: This is the 18th installment in a weekly series spotlighting Rhode Island FC and Centreville Bank Stadium from a business perspective throughout the 2025 United Soccer League Championship season. To read past stories in this series, click here.) PAWTUCKET – The “more” in Rhode Island FC’s and Centreville Bank Stadium’s “soccer and more”
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APPROXIMATELY 1,000 PEOPLE attended the Pawtucket Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival at Centreville Bank Stadium on Aug. 23. However, some food truck operators say they didn't generate as much revenue as they had hoped for. / PBN PHOTO / JAMES BESSETTE[/caption]
Customer service and hospitality also are critical factors in making the stadium attractive to others, Byrne said, and welcomes returning customers.
“What drives me to a venue is the way I’m treated,” he said. “If you’re treated with professionalism and listened to, and you deliver, then you have my business. That’s what we try to provide.”
Results and feedback from the food truck festival are mixed. While stadium officials and event organizers were pleased with the turnout, some food truck operators told PBN that it wasn’t what they had expected or hoped for.
Peter Kalemkeridis, owner of Plainville, Mass.-based Mac N Cheese Please, told PBN there weren’t enough customers at the stadium festival in contrast to the “thousands and thousands” of people who normally attend a food truck event. He said his truck only generated 30% in revenue compared to a normally larger event.
Ditto for Beverly, Mass.-based The Whoo(pie) Wagon. Co-Owner Chris Bandereck said the event was “OK, but comparably not great.” He also said he would not bring his truck back next year if another food truck festival is held at Centreville Bank Stadium.
Other food truck operators, including Sabrosa Venezuela and Potato Potato, did not respond to PBN's multiple requests for comment following the Aug. 23 event.
Byrne acknowledged the marketing of the event from the stadium’s perspective was “a little late.” He also said some logistics, such as directing people to the event location, placing some trucks along the river walk and incorporating live entertainment, also needs improvement.
Having the trucks on the field itself for future events is “not financially feasible” right now, Byrne said, citing the need to protect the field for soccer competition. Byrne though hopes the stadium can continue hosting the food truck festival next year and beyond.
“We’re open to making sure the festival is a win-win for everyone,” he said. “That was our first, so we’ll build on it for the following year.”
Regarding the Jager Cup, Byrne said the challenge of the “non-traditional” in-season tournament is that most fans are unfamiliar with how the format works and what it means for the local club. The tournament, which involves clubs from USL Championship and USL League One, is built into the schedule with divisional play for four games and division winners are among those that advance into the event’s playoffs – all during the season.
A combination of a lack of full understanding about the Jager Cup plus the poor weather for the tournament’s quarterfinal on Aug. 20 – which saw Rhode Island FC defeat Birmingham Legion FC 1-0 – resulted in the club’s lowest paid home attendance to date at 3,703 – less than half of what the team averages for attendance – Byrne said.
Paid attendance on Wednesday night for Rhode Island FC's was equally low, with just 4,899 in the building for the USL Jager semifinal.
“[Explaining mid-season cups] has been a bit of a learning curve,” Byrne said. “But from a business perspective, it’s a positive to get more people into the building. The more people we get in there, the better. Anytime a team is in a position to be competitive to where they can win a tournament, that [generates a good] message to the community.”
Unfortunately, concerts at Centreville Bank Stadium will have to wait until at least next year. Byrne said it’s “a challenge to have all the stars align” on large music events to get finalized.
With the Governor’s Cup, Byrne said he and club officials are pushing for Centreville Bank Stadium to be the Governor’s Cup primary home going forward. However, he said the response there will be on Oct. 3 from both the respective URI and Brown communities will paint a clearer picture on that possibility.
Byrne is confident that URI-Brown football being played along the Seekonk River on Oct. 3 will “catapult that event,” with the area giving the game a “bowl [game-type] feel” to it.
Peart also reiterated that while the venue has solid momentum up to this point, it will take time for a full event schedule to build up to where everything needs to be for the community to partake in.