Rhode Island taxpayers are now being told that they will need to pay $132 million over 30 years for the Pawtucket soccer stadium. For just the construction of the stadium, taxpayers will be paying $27 million. This stadium is now likely going to be the “most expensive minor league soccer stadium in the country”. When the new stadium was first announced in 2019, the state agreed to give $27 million to the developers for “development of housing units around the stadium”. The stadium developer claimed that the cost of the project would be just over $80 million. But after some time passed, the developers claimed that construction costs were too high and that the deal wouldn’t work. The Governor irresponsibly cast a tiebreaker vote that allowed for taxpayers’ costs to shift from housing to the stadium.
At this time, the State expected the project to cost $59 million over 20 years, annual debt payments of $2.9 million. Now? The cost is $132 million, with debt payments reaching $4.4 million annually. In 2019, Brett Johnson of Fortuitous Partners proposed a $400 million development in downtown Pawtucket. This plan included a new soccer stadium that would anchor planned development “that includes apartments and retail across the river and additional development”. Johnson talked to the media about how this project could make downtown Pawtucket a “more viable destination for new residents and businesses”.
You could see why, as the plan included: Riverfront parks, an indoor sports center, apartments, shops, restaurants, offices, and a soccer stadium. According to Johnson, in 2019, all of this could be Rhode Island’s for just $70-$90 million in taxpayer money via tax increment financing.
This stadium deal has been criticized from the start. Before construction of the stadium had begun, the city of Pawtucket received a letter from its then municipal advisor. The contents detailed numerous concerns about the financing scheme for the stadium project. The advisor, Hilltop Securities, quit over their concerns.
Hilltop wondered why the city would use certain funding schemes that were not customarily used for these types of projects. Additionally, Hilltop told the developer to find more funding, yet the developer managed to find zero additional funding plans. Overall, Hilltop asked why the city was putting so much of the funding guarantees on their shoulders when the developer showed little to no ability to get this project finished and finished on time.
For example, if the team folds next week, what happens? Locals would be required to continue making bond payments for decades on an empty stadium lot. As WPRI wrote recently, a high majority of Rhode Island voters opposed the original plan to spend less than $60 million on the stadium. No other tests have been done. My guess is that the pollsters understand the outcome would not be pretty for the stadium backers.
What about those repeated promises by state leaders about this stadium paying for itself? Why does every forecast now show that the stadium won’t generate anywhere near enough tax revenue to cover the annual debt-service payments?