Related Issue
Spring 2026
Sports & Recreation
Beautiful Game
Brett Johnson ’92 bought a franchise license, built a stadium, and now R.I. has a pro soccer team.
By Frederic J. Frommer / Spring 2026
April 2nd, 2026
Brett Johnson ’92Photo: Joe Giddens
When Brett Johnson’92 heard in 2018 that the popular Pawtucket Red Sox were moving to Worcester, Mass., he had an epiphany: Forget baseball. Rhode Island needs soccer!
“I put my entrepreneurial hat on,” he recalls, adding that he had been tracking the demographics of Rhode Island. “Amid the melting pot of incredible immigrant nations that make up Rhode Island—Italians, Portuguese, Colombians, West Africans—the sport of choice is soccer.”
So Johnson purchased the rights to a United Soccer League (USL) franchise for Rhode Island, lining up $60 million in private equity for the team. “I was the lead investor so I was the one who put the first dollars at risk,” Johnson says.
It helped that Johnson, a Los Angeles-based venture capitalist and sports nut, had already founded Phoenix Rising, a team in the USL (one level below Major League Soccer), and led the purchase of Ipswich Town F.C. which competes in the English Football League’s Championship.
“Our fans have pride in watching their own team, not an affiliate of a Boston team, not a minor league club. This is Rhode Island’s team.”
Hence, what began as an epiphany led to the founding of Rhode Island FC, a USL franchise in Pawtucket that played its first season in 2024; he’s team chair. Players hail from countries including Spain, Cuba, Cameroon, Canada, and the United States and include Rhode Island natives Kevin Vang and Isaac Angking, as well as Rio Hope-Gund, the son of film director Catherine Gund ’88.
It also led to the construction of the brand new Centreville Bank Stadium (capacity 10,500), located on the banks of the Seekonk River, which Rhode Island FC christened in 2025.
At night the stadium illuminates the Seekonk River, where Johnson rowed with the crew team.PHOTO: ARI BULRING
“I was on the crew team at Brown, and I used to row by that site every day when it was a highly toxic brownfield site with no development or activity on this prime seashore,” Johnson says. “We’ve worked with so many stakeholders and cleaned the site up.”
Johnson says he traveled to Rhode Island from his home in Los Angeles twice a month for about six years to make the project a reality. The team secured public funding for the stadium in 2022 and played its first game there in May 2025, a 0-0 draw against San Antonio. USA Today reported that fans raved about “virtually every aspect of the new soccer venue.” The stadium will also host a women’s soccer team, Major League Rugby, and concerts, among other events. The next phase of the site development will be installing housing units.
“I believe strongly in the social and economic impact of sport,” Johnson says. “Our fans—Rhode Islanders—have pride in watching their own team, not an affiliate of a Boston team, not a minor league club. This is Rhode Island’s team, and we’ll launch more Rhode Island teams here.”
