(Editor’s note: This is the 17th 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 – Even though Rhode Island FC’s overall season on the pitch has had some bumps and bruises, both figuratively and literally, that hasn’t deterred current season ticket holders from wanting to spend another spring and summer at Centreville Bank Stadium, according to club officials.
Rhode Island FC President David Peart told Providence Business News the club is pacing “well ahead” of its projected for a renewal rate for the 2026 United Soccer League season at this stage of the process. He said the club began engaging with the membership, including conducting gameday surveys seeking feedback, and through various other means well ahead of the start of the renewal period – roughly halfway through the season.
Peart also said Rhode Island FC providing a “best-in-class experience” for fans – overall presentation and fan engagement through special events – a sticking point with club ownership, has also fueled the renewal rate into overdrive.
“We are pleasantly surprised with where we are,” Peart said.
There are 933 names – which include family names, individuals and corporate sponsors – noted on the season-ticket member wall sign on the stadium’s north end near the main entrance. (PBN is among the noted members.) Peart, though, declined to offer specific data on how many individual season-ticket members there are currently and as to what percentage of season ticket members have renewed for next year thus far.
However, Peart did claim that according to the midseason survey the club conducted, more than 90% of the respondents said they are “likely to renew” their season tickets for 2026.
Season ticket members also recently received a playoff perk, of sorts. Members who renewed their season ticket packages for 2026 also received free admission to Rhode Island FC’s upcoming Sept. 10 in-season USL Jagermeister Cup in-season tournament semifinal against Sacramento Republic FC and the Jager Cup Final if the local club advances that far.
Playoff ticket perks vary with some organizations. For example, the Providence Bruins offer such tickets at discounted rates to season ticket members if they renew for the following year.
Peart said providing free Jager Cup tickets to renewing members gives them “more bang for their buck.” Plus, Rhode Island FC playing in such contests where the stakes are high – something the club is quite familiar with – builds up more hype and excitement for both the club and the state, in general, Peart said.
Along using its own social media platforms to spread the word to all fans, the club is also going to invest money in the market by partnering with local media sponsors to “elevate and talk about” the Jager Cup’s significance and importance, Peart said, to generate additional interest in the in-season tournament – and, potentially, more people into the venue.
And team performance matters, Peart said, beyond just the Jager Cup to maintain public interest. Rhode Island FC on Aug. 30 earned a critical 1-0 win over Charleston Battery FC to move to 6-10-6 (24 points) to keep its USL Championship playoff push alive.
It was only the third USL Championship-league win at Centreville Bank Stadium this season for Rhode Island FC and the team’s goal was its first non-set-play goal – not off a penalty kick or a free kick – since July 5. But the win keeps the team in eighth place, on the playoff bubble, in the Eastern Conference at a critical stage after laboring through much of the season's first six month's.
Rhode Island FC winning matches is “not the only factor, but an important factor” in the club’s overall success, Peart said. Much like what Rhode Island FC co-founder Brett M. Johnson noted in
a recent wide-range interview with PBN, Peart says he has confidence in General Manager and Head Coach Khano Smith and the players to perform and deliver for those wearing the amber and blue inside the 10,500-seat venue.
“We know [winning] matters a lot to our fans,” he said. “We know the fans are getting 100% of the effort; we just haven’t had the bounces.”
When presented with a hypothetical situation where if Rhode Island FC were to miss the postseason and what possible changes with the club could be on the table, Peart deferred to Johnson, Smith and club co-founder Michael Parkhurst.
- Current team record (wins-losses-draws): 6-10-6, 24 points; 8th place of 12 in USL Championship Eastern Conference
- Result of previous match: Rhode Island FC 1, Charleston Battery 0 (from Aug. 30)
- Next match: Sept. 6, vs. Louisville City FC at Centreville Bank Stadium, 7 p.m.
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 X at @James_Bessette.
