The United Football League (UFL), America’s spring football league formed back in 2024, announced the addition of four new teams to the sport on Sept. 23. Rhode Island was among these four and, along with a new team in Colorado, will begin their inaugural season in the spring of 2027. The other two will be located in Utah and Oklahoma and begin their first seasons in 2028.
Rhode Island’s football team will play in the newly built Centreville Bank Stadium, located a short drive north from central Providence in Pawtucket. The stadium is the current home for Rhode Island FC, a second-division team in the United Soccer League. It currently has a capacity for 10,500 fans.
Even thought it was built primarily for soccer, the stadium began hosting the University of Rhode Island’s home football games this season and very recently held the Harvard vs. Brown rivalry matchup on Sept. 25.
Plans and designs for the team’s name, logos, jerseys and other branding will be announced on Oct. 18 at a live launch party at the stadium. Later in the year, the league will hold an expansion draft to allow Rhode Island and Colorado to form a roster of players to prepare for the upcoming season.
The team’s arrival to the Ocean State marks the first foray spring football has made in the New England football market in its short existence. For Rhode Island specifically, it’s the first time a professional football team has been based in the state since the Providence Steam Roller of the nascent National Football League folded in the 1930s.
In an interview with Rhode Island media outlet NBC 10 WJAR, UFL co-investor Mike Repole stated he was “excited to bring a team to New England,” mentioning later on in discussion with reporters that Pawtucket was “the right market, with the right fans, with the right venue.”
The interview highlights how Rhode Island also had a personal connection with him and other UFL investors. He mentions that he used to live in the area and thus has a good understanding of the sports culture of the city and broader state.
Further analysis of Pawtucket makes it clear why UFL investors think Pawtucket, Rhode Island was the perfect location for a new UFL team compared to other cities in New England.
Given Rhode Island’s proximity to the larger New England cities of Hartford and Boston, the state is often overlooked when it comes to professional or semi-professional sports teams. Even worse, if they are given a team, they are at risk of being moved elsewhere. The most infamous example of this was the cherished Red Sox Triple A affiliate Pawtucket Red Sox, who moved to Worcester in 2015 after 50 years in Rhode Island.
Many Rhode Islanders tend to heavily support any teams they currently have, partly because of their state pride and partly because of the aforementioned phenomena. As mentioned, Repole and other investors understand this well, either from personal experience or from analytics. Regardless, this means that putting a new football team in Pawtucket was one way to guarantee early support.
Competition was also a factor in determining location. Cities like Boston, Hartford and Worcester already have well-established pro and college teams that locals spend their time and attention supporting. Adding a new football team to these areas, especially in eastern Massachusetts, would mean potential fans would have to find even more time to actively support another team.
Since Rhode Island only has two major semi-professional teams, Rhode Island FC and the Providence Bruins, there was far less competition for attention compared to other places. An additional plus is that if new fans from those aforementioned cities wanted to see a game, it’s only a relatively simple drive or train ride from those cities to Pawtucket.
Stadium economics also plays a key role. Pre-built, smaller stadiums built for soccer or college sports, at least to Mike Repole, seem to generate the most success for UFL teams at the moment.
Repole points towards the recently formed Louisville Kings UFL team as an example. In its first year at Lynn Family Stadium, they averaged 11,195 fans a game in a venue that typically only holds 11,700. Centreville Bank holds a similar capacity, exists for similar purposes and is located in a city similar to Louisville. It’s not hard to see the connection.
Given the instability of spring football, it will be interesting to see how long the team lasts. However, it’s clear that if they were trying to maximize the chances of the team lasting in the region and bolstering the league’s success, basing it in Pawtucket, Rhode Island seems like the best bet. One way to ensure its success is to go watch their opening game in person this spring, or by tuning into the game on FOX.