We Went to Rhode Island’s New Soccer Stadium — Here’s Why We’ll Be Back

This past weekend Taylor Swift helped my family discover Rhode Island’s beautiful new soccer stadium, but we won’t need her to bring us back.

For years we’ve all seen and heard about the new Tidewater Stadium built along the Seekonk River in Pawtucket. Officially the Centerville Bank Stadium at Tidewater Landing, it opened to an above-capacity crowd on May 3, 2025, for Rhode Island FC's regular season home game against San Antonio FC.

While the crowd wasn’t at capacity when my family went on August 9, it certainly should have been in my opinion.

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To be perfectly clear, I have never played soccer, my daughters don’t play soccer and I have barely ever watched soccer on TV. Yet, we had a phenomenal time at the Rhode Island FC game this past weekend.

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The promotion team for RIFC knows how to plan a good time.

It was Folklore Night when we went on August 9, so we got tickets entirely because of the Taylor Swift angle and fireworks set to Swift’s music. But when we left the stadium that night, my daughters were hooked on the game and literally begging to go back as soon as possible.

What We Loved About Centerville Bank Stadium

With a 10,500-seat capacity, this stadium is the perfect size for family fun. Not so big your little ones get overwhelmed, but large enough to fit a lot of activity.

The main gates were quick and easy to get through at the start of the night and just a few steps inside gives visitors a great view of the perfectly green artificial turf. In fact it was hard to find seats without a great view.

Best Activities for Kids at Rhode Island FC Games

If you attend with kids, your first step should be to head to the far left and down a flight of stairs to the riverwalk, where during every home game the team sets up tents for their free Fan Fest.

For Folklore Night, this area meant booths for face painting, balloon art, friendship bracelet making and even colorful hair braiding. There were also prize wheels, foosball tables and photo ops along the water, topping off the kid-friendly fun.

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The riverwalk also featured several food trucks, although there are also food stands, beer stands and three walk-in markets throughout the stadium.

Between the waterfront activities, snacks galore and the post-game fireworks show, I thought the actual soccer wouldn’t even register with my girls. But, they loved the game. They were riveted, asking questions I couldn’t answer, cheering for near misses on goal and stomping their feet on the metal bleachers for every RIFC corner kick.

From start to finish we had a great time. My kids didn’t even complain about the half-mile walk to the car afterwards.

Praise For Centerville Bank Stadium

For my family, Centerville Bank Stadium at Tidewater Landing gets two thumbs up.

A great venue overall with an amazing location, everything you need/want inside was easy to find, the seats were comfortable for the two hours we spent in them and the parking was nowhere near as bad as I was told to expect.