Stadium & Riverwalk | Tidewater Landing | Pawtucket

Seanflynn78 said:
I think URI football would benefit from playing 1 home game a year at Tidewater. Similar to Holy Cross's relationship with Polar Park. URI needs as much exposure as it can get in order to stay competitive in football. The arms race continues in college football, and the state flagship's in New England are getting left in the dust. URI's home field- Meade Stadium needs serious upgrades, but that is another conversation.
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UMass tried this at Gillette, and it hasn't really worked. Maybe Fenway would be different. They did do one game there in 2017, but the Fenway Gridiron Series has shifted into a bowl game...
 
Equilibria said:
UMass tried this at Gillette, and it hasn't really worked. Maybe Fenway would be different. They did do one game there in 2017, but the Fenway Gridiron Series has shifted into a bowl game...
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Yes but that was for almost all their home games. Plus Gillette is a much larger stadium. Tidewater appears to have a capacity appropriate for a URI or Bryant home game. Did we ever find out what the actual capacity is going to be? I hope it is closer to 11k than 8k.
 
Just came across this photo from the 1950's that shows what the Tidewater Landing area looked like several decades ago. The view is looking south with the river to left. The banks on both sides of the river in this area were once lined with energy related businesses with many being supplied by boat at one time. I posted even older photos of this area earlier in the thread.
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Even if a stadium does not get built, the site remediation for future development has been completed.

As for soccer, I would think the recent rumors that the Revs might get a stadium in Everett by the casino would be beneficial for any possible future RI soccer franchise. Gillette Stadium in Foxboro is less than 20 miles from Tidewater Landing in Pawtucket.
 
Revs moving to Everett is probably 10 years away at best. Tough to complete with a MLS team backed by Kraft's $$$ in the meantime and all the while the state has to pay off 45M in bonds.
 
Even if the soccer stadium does not get built, the site has been cleared and remediated and is ready for new development.
 
Rhode Island FC plays at Bryant University this season and had an inaugural sold out crowd of 5,252 at Beirne Stadium in Smithfield on 03/16/2024. The team scored a goal in stoppage time to earn a 1-1 draw with New Mexico United in its first ever game.

Work was resumed at the Pawtucket Tidewater site after the financing issues were resolved and continues at this time. I took these photos a few days ago (03/25/2024). While I have concerns about the long term viability of a soccer team at this level here and question the amount of public financing for the stadium, I do hope it can find success.

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New England Born & Raised said:
Rhode Island FC plays at Bryant University this season and had an inaugural sold out crowd of 5,252 at Beirne Stadium in Smithfield on 03/16/2024. The team scored a goal in stoppage time to earn a 1-1 draw with New Mexico United in its first ever game.

Work was resumed at the Pawtucket Tidewater site after the financing issues were resolved and continues at this time. I took these photos a few days ago (03/25/2024). While I have concerns about the long term viability of a soccer team at this level here and question the amount of public financing for the stadium, I do hope it can find success.

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Even with the starts and stops, I'm surprised that this is all the progress they've made. I'm not a huge soccer fan, but I'm excited to see this stadium when it's open.
 
Lrfox said:
Even with the starts and stops, I'm surprised that this is all the progress they've made. I'm not a huge soccer fan, but I'm excited to see this stadium when it's open.
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I think the decision to have all games at Bryant for the first season took some of the urgency off Tidewater Landing. Much of the big work was the site prep and foundation pour. It is all now done and the stand construction can probably proceed quickly once started. They basically now have another year until mid march of 2025 to get the stadium built and up and running.
 
New England Born & Raised said:
I think the decision to have all games at Bryant for the first season took some of the urgency off Tidewater Landing. Much of the big work was the site prep and foundation pour. It is all now done and the stand construction can probably proceed quickly once started. They basically now have another year until mid march of 2025 to get the stadium built and up and running.
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True. I hope it rises quickly.
 
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