Rhode Island
Empty Seats, State-Backed Bonds: GoLocal Counts Under 2,500 Fans Where RIFC Reported 7,092—and Rhode Island Taxpayers Still Stand Behind $60M for a Private Stadium
What happened
Rhode Island FC beat Loudoun United at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket on Wednesday night, Oct. 14. It was a makeup of the season opener the Blizzard of ’26 wiped out in March. The team reported attendance of 7,092. GoLocalProv sent a photographer, counted the seats, and reported Saturday that the crowd was “less than 2,500. Far less,” in a stadium that holds 10,500. GoLocal said its photos were taken just before kickoff and during the first half. It counted about 250 more people in the beer garden and concession lines and a few dozen still coming in. RIFC didn’t respond to GoLocal’s request for comment.
Attendance matters to taxpayers because of how the stadium was paid for. In 2022 the R.I. Commerce Corporation board approved public borrowing for the project. Gov. Dan McKee, the board’s chair, cast the deciding vote. In February 2024 the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency issued $54.285 million in bonds to put about $27 million into construction. The rest covered reserves, capitalized interest and fees. The bonds are repaid from state tax revenue generated in a designated district of Pawtucket. At closing, the Globe reported the bonds carried a 7.5% interest rate and would take about $132 million in state tax revenue over 30 years to pay off, more than double the state’s 2022 estimate of $59 million. Pawtucket added $10 million in federal COVID-relief money, and the state approved $14 million in tax credits, the Globe reported. The stadium is owned by the private developer, Fortuitous Partners, led by California investor Brett Johnson, which also owns the team.
In December 2025 the bonds were refinanced with $60.22 million in new debt, about $6 million more than the original issue, GoLocal reported. The structure changed too. According to the S&P rating report GoLocal obtained, the new bonds are “state appropriation revenue refunding bonds” rated AA-. The governor must include the debt service in the state budget each year, and the General Assembly appropriates it “from any legally available funds of the state.” S&P noted “no clear linkage between the Tidewater Landing Phase 1A project and the basic function of the state.” An S&P analyst told GoLocal that the pledge is not a “moral obligation,” but that a missed payment “could negatively impact our view of the state’s general creditworthiness.” Bloomberg reported that the refinancing cut the borrowing rate to about 4.6% from 8.2%. It also reported that the original lead bondholder, Rosemawr Management, made about a 40% return, roughly $20 million, in about two years, because the agency bought back its bonds at a nearly 30% premium.
Both of the stadium’s biggest political champions lost their primaries this fall. McKee lost the Democratic primary for governor. Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien lost to Adam Greenman on Sept. 9, 54.6% to 45.4%. The state’s appropriation commitment runs for decades after they leave office. RIFC plays its final regular-season home game tonight, Saturday, Oct. 17.
Original reporting
Read the underlying sources:
Ocean State Media — TGIF: Ian Donnis’ Rhode Island politics roundup (Oct. 16, 2026)
Virtue Forge commentary
The pitch for public stadium money is always the same: build it and the crowds will come, the crowds will spend, and the spending will repay the public. The second half of that pitch only works if the first half is true. A team-reported number that one news outlet’s photo count can’t come close to matching should worry every Rhode Islander whose taxes are pledged to the project. It doesn’t prove fraud; attendance accounting is a dark art across sports. What it shows is that the public has been asked to underwrite a private business without the basic numbers to judge whether the bet is paying off. GoLocal reports that the team has refused to disclose its financial performance.
Look at how the risk moved. As first structured, the deal had tax revenue from the district repaying the bonds, the McKee administration declined to pledge the state’s “moral obligation,” and the 2024 bonds went out unrated, the kind of paper high-yield funds buy. By December 2025 the deal was rebuilt so that the state budget formally stands behind the debt, with an investment-grade rating borrowed from Rhode Island’s own credit. The lower interest rate is real savings, and we give officials credit for capturing it. But the trade was simple: taxpayers took on more of the risk, and a Wall Street fund that bought the risky bonds at a discount walked away with roughly $20 million in two years. When private investors keep the upside and the public holds the obligation, that isn’t free enterprise. It’s crony capitalism with a ribbon-cutting.
Then there’s accountability. The governor who broke the tie on the Commerce board and the mayor who championed the project were both voted out this fall, and the appropriation lasts roughly three decades. The developer still owns the stadium and the team. A free market would let Brett Johnson and his investors keep every dollar of profit and bear every dollar of loss. Rhode Island’s version lets them keep the stadium while the state budget holds the debt.
What to watch: the turnout at tonight’s regular-season home finale and any playoff home games; whether RIFC or the Commerce Corporation releases turnstile counts or responds to GoLocal; whether the state’s FY2027 budget documents disclose the annual appropriation and how much designated district revenue actually covers it; and whether Pawtucket’s incoming mayor, Adam Greenman, or the next governor pushes for public disclosure of the stadium’s finances.