An interview With Rhode Island FC Co-Founder, Owner Brett Johnson

The soccer has arrived, but the work has just begun.

As Brett Johnson walks me around his Benevolent Capital office in Los Angeles, one thing becomes abundantly clear: he’s a man on a mission to elevate soccer in Rhode Island, Ipswich, and North America; growing the beautiful game. It’s clear he’s on track to do just that.

From the many kits representing his soccer investments adorning his walls, to pictures of his collegiate rowing time with Brown University, the 6’4” executive almost seems larger than life. In his own words, he would promise you that he is a humble person who is just taking his responsibilities day by day to deliver on his promises to the communities he serves.

You can read the Q&A below as well as listen to the interview on Raising Anchor

TBM: We’ll get into the soccer specifics here in a minute, but I wanted to give listeners the chance to know a little bit more about the man and not the owner. Can you connect the dots on what your life has been like between graduating from Brown University and founding Rhode Island FC? What have your non-soccer accomplishments been?

BJ: So four years at Brown University really gave me, as I call it, just a front row seat in terms of how incredible the Ocean State is. Fell in love with Rhode Island, so grateful for having the privilege of going to school like Brown and then really getting to understand what makes Rhode Island special. And I always kind of held that in my heart. My twin brother and I always talk about how much we love Rhode Island.

And so just to kind of answer your question specifically, post Brown, I moved to the Bay Area. I'm originally from New York City, kind of as I jokingly refer to it, born and raised on the mean streets of the Upper East Side. But after Brown moved to the Bay Area, I ended up doing three years of private equity work, which proved really valuable later on in my career, especially given what I do today. But I had an incredible first boss and mentor, Leo Hindry, who ultimately became the CEO of Yes Network, Yankee Entertainment Sports, and a phenomenal boss. I loved my time there, but I ultimately pivoted to a fast growing computer accessory company, the guy in England invented the very first computer bag, the very first computer carrying case. And some of your older listeners will recall most likely having a Target product at one time or another. It dominated, certainly during the time I was there, it dominated the space. But I joined that company right time, right place, did well with the business. For sake of full disclosure, my father founded the U.S. business, so we had a connection to it.

That's kind of how I got into it. But a great opportunity came for someone to come over and take over the international business based out of London. And I jumped at it. And I was in my 20s and ended up getting a fair bit of responsibility. I was overseeing all of Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. And the reason why I bring it up is because I was traveling this beautiful world of ours. And between the time in London and between the time traveling, I started to recognize what I call the religion by which the world reveres the other football. And I love the sport. I played it very, very modestly in school and kind of recognized over time my future in sport lay elsewhere. But I always had a passion for the sport. Been a longtime fan and supporter of the U.S. men and women's team. But in short, the time I spent overseas gave me the epiphany that over time, the United States would catch up in terms of the passion for watching what I call the drama of a 1-1 game and kind of recognizing the brilliance behind that. But then also, I do strongly believe that the U.S. men at some point will win the World Cup. I believe that. I believe that for a long period of time and still believe that I'll be right. And obviously, the women have always been fantastic. So it goes without saying.

I was brought back to Southern California to run all of Targus, and I ran it for five years. Then, we sold it to another private equity firm. I stepped down from running the company in 2005, but I stayed on the board for four years. I started a private equity company, which I have to this day under the umbrella Benevolent Capital. Benevolent for a lot of people familiar with Providence comes from Benevolent Street, where my brother and I, we made our very first investment. It's now a diverse portfolio, venture capital, private equity, professional soccer, and then increasingly real estate. I spend all my time pretty much on Rhode Island. I'm blessed to be involved with Ipswich. My twin brother does more of the heavy lift on our private equity and venture capital. And we have everything from aura ring to athletic brewing and non-alcoholic beer. When we see something we like, we'll always invest our own money.

TBM: How did you first connect with soccer and what motivated you specifically to become an investor in the sport?

BJ: So my very first exposure, I went to Highbury to see Arsenal when I was 18 years old. I was actually studying in London and a good family friend, he's Arsenal's sort of number one supporter, took us to Highbury. It was a life changing moment to see truly the passion of supporters for clubs like Arsenal, et cetera. I get hooked as almost everyone has a story, a gateway story I feel like similar to that. And so I've always had a special place for Arsenal. And then during that time when I was overseas, I always found that I could bring up football as a way to break the ice. I mean, I'd usually say things like, aren't you excited for the World Cup because the U.S. is going to win it? And then the Germans would go crazy. The guy from South America would absolutely. What you'd find is 30 minutes later, people are still talking about football. So it was a great way to kind of build relationships. And it's a common denominator that so much of the world shares. And I'm thrilled to see the way it's growing in the United States.

TBM: Rhode Island FC, is not your first soccer investment. Your name has been tied to the likes of FC Tuscon, then Arizona United now current USL Champions Phoenix Rising FC, and Ipswich Town in the English Championship. Can you unpack that timeline? Did ownerships of these clubs needs to happen as the next domino to fall in your journey or was it always your larger strategy to own multiple teams?

BJ: In 2014, my second child was about six months old. I'd been in the bunker as new parents typically are and I remember when that MLS Cup finals was coming up turning to my wife and saying, ‘look, I'd really like to watch that this this finals, you know, just kind of asking for a couple hours of time to watch that game.’ During the MLS Cup, Don Garber, the commissioner, gives the state of the league. He talks about MLS expansion and I'm sitting there listening to him and he starts mentioning Orlando, Atlanta, and Nashville. And in short, I was like, wait a second, how is MLS not in Phoenix? At the end of the game, I turned to my wife and I said, ‘you know what, I've had this epiphany. I'm going to raise money, I'm going to buy an MLS franchise and I'm going to call it Phoenix Rising.’

TBM: You knew right off the bat that you had the name?

BJ: I had the name, I had everything literally turned to my wife and as I joke, after two hours of kind of just watching a football game, my wife was basically like, “turn the television off; change our son's diaper. Let's get back into this game, which is being a husband and being a father.’ The next day I literally started researching MLS expansion. I wasn’t aware of United Soccer League, USL, but I quickly became a student of it. And there was a franchise there called Arizona United.

Long story short, I bought half of that team and ultimately ended up bringing in a lot of partners, most of whom were based in Phoenix. Obviously, I live here in Los Angeles. So I brought in Phoenix based investors, Berke Bakay, who's become partners with me on Ipswich. Mark Detmer is also with us in Ipswich, they’re an incredible group of partners. We rebranded the team to Phoenix Rising and we built it in 51 days. We built a modular stadium at an incredible location. And then Berke Bakay pulled off one of the greatest coups of sorts in certainly soccer history as he got Didier Drogba to finish up his career and join our ownership group, which really put Phoenix Rising on the map.

We own the longest winning streak in North American history. We won a championship, last November, which was fantastic. It really gave me a great deal perspective in terms of how much work goes into making a club successful. And then just briefly from there, I really started to respect and appreciate the value of what I call the USL ecosystem. I asked myself, now that we've got the success in Phoenix, what other markets would be great in particular for USL and Rhode Island was the top of the list.

TBM: What was the reason behind purchasing Ipswich Town FC? Were there other clubs your investment group was exploring?

BJ: Going down the rabbit hole, I got a call from a guy named Peter Kenyon, who used to be the CEO of Man United and was the CEO of Chelsea. He found my number and told me he was taking a run at Newcastle and asked if I had any interest along with the ownership group in buying Newcastle United? We did a bunch of due diligence and we liked his thesis, the valuation. Long story short, we had sourced capital, but as so often is the case, the deal didn't get done but it put us in a good position where we had the bug on buying a club in England.

Serving on the executive committee for U.S., a guy by the name of Mark Ashton came and presented to the executive committee. Mark Ashton gave a masterclass in terms of how to run an English football club. I was sitting there, with my jaw dropped, hanging on his every word. I immediately came up to him after the presentation and told him if I'm ever blessed to do anything in England, I'd love to do it with you.

Ultimately, Ipswich Town FC was the club we would buy and for so many reasons it was the clear choice. Frank Yallop, who I hired to be a coach for Phoenix Rising, he used to play for Ipswich. Ipswich, to those who understand their soccer history, was truly one of the greatest clubs in the world at its peak. FA Cup winner, Champions League winner, Premier League winner. But in the Darwinian nature of foreign football, it had been relegated twice when we bought it. So long, long story short, we got a Phoenix-based pension fund to partner up with us to acquire the club. And as soon as we were in a position, I was able to call Mark Ashton up and say, look, I'd love you to come take a look at this. And Mark, we hired Mark Ashton as CEO. And I guess if anything, our instinct was correct. I think he's truly one of the best CEOs in English football. And with this partnership, he hired Karen McKenna, who's truly proven to be the best young manager in English football. We've had an incredible run since that time.

TBM: I’d like to clear the air on something if you don’t mind and that’s your ownership of Ipswich Town itself. An article last year reported that you misrepresented your ownership of the club. Digging into those claims, is that a reference to your personal private ownership vs the Gamechanger 20 Ltd partnership that you are a part of that makes the day-to-day to decisions? Can you elaborate?

BJ: I led the acquisition. I have a fund with Berke Bakay, where we have investors that have come through our fund. I personally invested capital myself. And I sit on the board of what's called Game Changer 20. That's the holding company for everything. That's the team, that's the playing center, it's the stadium. Every entity goes under Game Changer. And Berke Bakay represents us on the team itself. So I know the press at one point had tried to kind of allude to me not being on the board. It was completely ridiculous to try to make any innuendo that I don't have a stake in it, or I didn't play a role in honestly what's going on with the club today.

TBM: Back to the U.S. side of things, Phoenix Rising recently won the USL Championship. What was that like from an ownership experience to finally see the club earn the star on their jersey?

BJ: It was truly one of the greatest moments of my life. Candidly, it was really the last time that I could legitimately be rooting for Phoenix Rising. Like that was the changing of the guard. For anyone who's followed Phoenix Rising's history, that was our third time to the finals. We lost to Louisville when we had Drogba playing for us. We end up getting a match canceled, the finals canceled when Tampa ended up getting COVID. And of all the times that we've gone to the finals, probably the least probable likelihood of us winning a championship. I mean, we limped into the playoffs, but then they didn't know how to lose. They came from behind on the road against San Diego, Orange County, Sacramento and then Charleston. And we also we scored equalizer in the 89th minute, went into added time words down 2-0 in penalty kicks and then came back 3-2. I mean, our goalie just stood on his head to make some incredible saves. So the highs and lows are the lows and then ultimately the high of that championship, one of the greatest moments ever, including Ipswich getting promoted last year up to championship. So it's been phenomenal, there's nothing like it. I say to my friends and family and candidly a lot of investors, there's lots of places for people to kind of get involved or put money and make an impact to a community. But there's a few things that has as tangible a reward as being involved with the club, especially when that club is doing well.

TBM: In that regard, you know, you were mentioning the changing of the guard, so to speak, between these two championship sides here in the USL. Can you unpack for listeners how your ownership exactly works between the two?

BJ: So it's very simple. I'm the principal owner of Rhode Island. I'm not the principal owner of Phoenix Rising. And I was the co-founder, the co-chairman, and the alternate governor for Phoenix Rising. I've now moved on from all that. A couple of years ago, my partners and I in Phoenix Rising decided it was best for me to focus on Rhode Island. So I stepped off the board. I have, relatively speaking, a fairly small amount of equity now in Phoenix Rising. I'm now the chairman and co-founder of Rhode Island FC. I am married to Rhode Island FC. I eat, live, breathe, sleep this club and have dedicated with others close to six years to make this thing a reality. I've gone all in on it.

I couldn't be prouder of Phoenix Rising, and I'm so grateful for it because it literally birthed Ipswich and my involvement with Ipswich birthed Rhode Island FC, but I dedicate myself to the success day in and day out of Rhode Island FC. And then by extension, USL. I'm all in on making USL the best league in the world. And that's a bold statement, but I want to make the fan base, the culture, and the day in day out product as positive it can be.

TBM: Why start a club in Rhode Island?

BJ: It's important, first of all, that people recognize that Rhode Island punches so far above its weight class in terms of the passion for the beautiful game. And that's evident by the fact that almost always when there's a World Cup game, Premier League game, Rhode Island is almost always in the top 10 for viewership. So it doesn't take, candidly, it doesn't take a huge leap of faith or entrepreneurial vision to kind of recognize that was an opportunity. The tipping point for me was when I heard that the Paw Sox were picking up and moving to Worcester, Mass. That's when all of a sudden I became as committed to the cause as we will ever find.

TBM: Was that your 2014 MLS Cup Don Garber moment?

BJ: I had the proverbial light bulb went off in my head. I was in Watch Hill on a vacation and ran into a friend of mine and he was actually trying to get me to go to a dinner that night with Governor Raimondo. He mentioned she was going to be in a bad mood, and I took the bait and asked why. He informed me the Paw Sox just announced that they're leaving Rhode Island. I told him good luck with the dinner, appreciated the invitation, but was on vacation.

If someone had been filming, I wasn't three steps away from him grabbing my cell phone and calling the CEO of USL. I get ahold of him and I immediately bought the option for bringing USL to Rhode Island. I'd been kind of eyeing it for a little while, but that was the real kind of tipping point. And then shortly thereafter, my partner, Dan Kroeber and I met with the mayor and Governor Raimondo. They were very keen for us to take over McCoy. I told them with the utmost respect, that if that was the state’s intent, this was going to be a short meeting.

I joke, if I ever write a book on professional sports ownership, it'll be the shortest book ever. It's location, location, location. McCoy Stadium, maybe 80 years ago when they built it might have been the best location in Rhode Island. If you look at it now, it's in a very dense neighborhood. It's far off I-95. I went to school there for four years. I knew all about the Paw Sox, but I had no idea where they played because unless you were lost, you couldn't find the stadium.

I was very focused on, part of my business plan as well which was predicated on positively leveraging the Opportunity Zone program where certain zones, if you invest capital gains, they have tax advantages. And the city of Pawtucket had some prime real estate on the river next to this brownfield site that's now owned by Rhode Island Energy. The city, state, as well as Rhode Island Commerce, went out with an RFP. Through my partners Dan Kroeber’s leadership, we ended up winning the RFP. And great news is we're a year away from completing what will be a world-class soccer-specific multi-purpose stadium. And then we're going to build 600-plus multi-family units right on the river, right off I-95.

TBM: I was studying a heat map of professional clubs in America, and RIFC will be the first market where a division 2 team starts operations AFTER an already established division 1 club within 30 minutes of travel.

BJ: Rhode Island to me, it was so clear it deserved professional soccer. And from my perspective, USL is the best league to bring into a market like Rhode Island. I think the quality of play of USL is fantastic. And if you see in the U.S. Open Cup, USL teams every year knock off MLS teams. But the difference is USL payroll is a rounding error of those MLS teams. It talks, relatively speaking, to the overall parity. I think USL is a super power. It has the ability to provide better quality minutes to younger players in front of bigger audiences than any league in the world. That's why I'm so committed to it and so bullish on it long term. And again, I like to say with the utmost respect to MLS, it's incredible the way MLS has been growing. But if the Krafts could wave a magic wand, they're going to build a soccer specific stadium and it likely not be in Foxborough. The latest rumors it would be in Everett, which is north of Boston.

TBM: Was New England Revolution leaving Foxborough, part of your equation when constructing your thesis for Rhode Island FC?

BJ: I wish New England Revolution the best future possible, from my perspective, if they stay forever in Foxborough, it's not going to affect what I would consider to be the success of Rhode Island. We are so dedicated to building the best club that Rhode Islanders are proud of. From the home opener at Bryant, I think Rhode Islanders got a great taste for the amount that we're going to invest in the commitment we have for really creating a club for Rhode Islanders. And I'm very proud of the fact that we have season ticket holders from all the cities and counties and townships of Rhode Island. It truly is a club for all Rhode Island and that's a big, big difference. Again, with the utmost respect for New England Revolution, I think a lot of Rhode Islanders are now viewing Rhode Island FC as the opportunity to be their club and a source of pride where I feel over time. When we're playing the likes of a Louisville or Tampa, Rhode Islanders are going to sit there and say, man, I want to defend. I want to defend this club against that. I can't wait to go out. Bryant was phenomenal. I really think our team did an exceptional job in terms of putting a great product literally on and off the pitch there, but just wait till we move into the stadium.

The Krafts, New England Revolution, MLS as a whole almost died because of playing in big NFL stadiums. The future is quality soccer specific stadiums and that's what Rhode Island is going to have. The Krafts are going to try to do it as well, but who knows? I hope that it goes well. As far as I'm concerned, it's a win. When they move to Everett and build a great stadium, it only helps the sport. When they can't get it done and they stay in Foxborough we'll have a great, great rival very close. It's a bummer that we won't play them in the U.S. Open Cup this year, but I hope that at some point MLS comes around on that and they get back into that incredible cup.

TBM: With the exceptional signings of talent across the board from the FO, to the technical staff, and star players like Albert Dikwa, outsiders are now speculating this club can break the mold of how expansion sides enter a league and seriously contend for playoffs and hardware in their first year. What do you say to something like that? Have your expectations as an owner changed?

BJ: So the quick answer is I played a long game and it takes almost as much money and work to have a mediocre side as it does to have a championship side. So we are absolutely dedicated to putting the best quality team and we want to compete for championships from day one. I think that's evident to everyone with the talent that we've signed. I'm very proud of my partnership with co-founder Michael Parkhurst and the executive team that really helps day to day and have been in the trenches with me since inception on this. Khano Smith - Michael was the one who really brought Khano to our attention — Khano came in and blew us away. We joked that I had no poker face with it. I was so impressed by the guy so quickly that it came to the point where he was actually asking Michael if he should even present because we were already taking like celebratory photos on the construction side of the stadium. But Khano laid out a vision for how he wants to run a club and I'm very proud that he now has his first head coaching opportunity at Rhode Island FC. And then I think Khano is the kind of coach that players want to play for. To his credit, he's put an incredible roster together, so I'm encouraged. Our aspirations, we absolutely want to make the playoffs. I think that would be great for our first season. But everyone should be very, very confident. We will always be investing in terms of talent that's going to help us win. We are very dedicated to winning for a lot of reasons, first and foremost I feel a commitment to Rhode Islanders to put a great product on the pitch that more often than not wins.

TBM: How involved in the day to day decision making are you at this point? Is this a scenario where you have trusted people in the right positions or are you a hands-on kind of owner?

BJ: So we have an executive committee that is very active, that plays a very close role in supporting Brett Luy, in supporting Khano, in supporting Paul Byrne. My philosophy is to hire the best people, give them the support to be successful. If Brett Luy needs me, and I mean this with complete sincerity, if he needed help washing the uniforms, I would roll up my sleeves and go wash the uniform. Paul Byrne knows whatever he needs to call me. Khano, if there's anything I can do to help him, I tell him all the time, just let me know. That includes players that he was interested in. I would always say, look, if there's anything that I can do that is, you know, obviously completely above board, like it's got to be during a window where I'm able to talk to someone, you know, whether it's an agent, whether it's a player, whether it's their family, I will do whatever can, because I want people to understand my commitment and by extension, our commitment to them and the culture that we're building. So I'm very involved. That being said, I want to empower them. I want them to do their job day in and day out. I'm going to continue to invest in world class people to make this the best organization in North America.

TBM: With the recent announcement that all financial requirements have been closed out and our first game around the corner, what are your immediate objectives? What are your longer term goals?

BJ: Dan Kroeber and I are very focused on completing the stadium and then moving on towards the housing. We spent a lot of time on it in terms of completion. It will be a long, long project because at some point we obviously have to work with the city on the apex parcel as well. I think over time we've really got to make sure that we support the appropriate parking support for the stadium. Then at some point have an interest in expanding the product in the stadium. We're leading with the men's team. I don't want to put a timeline on it, but I have an intention of Rhode Island having a women's team. I've been very pleased with what I call the inbound in terms of potential partners that would want to use the stadium. I really believe that Tidewater Stadium is going to be one of the best sporting assets in New England. It’s a rectangular field for soccer, American football, rugby, lacrosse, concerts, et cetera. It’s our intention to really make it the sports and entertainment capital for Southern New England, not just Rhode Island, but for Southern New England. So that's going to be a big area of focus as well.

TBM: You've learned so much through your multiple ventures, both in the executive side professionally and now in your soccer investments. But what has Rhode Island FC specifically taught you in comparison to the rest of those?

BJ: Well again, I like to say with total humility, just how proud I am to be associated with the state of Rhode Island. And I was very committed from inception with my balance sheet. I'm proud of the amount of money we've invested. We've raised and invested private capital into the state of Rhode Island. The ownership group that we've assembled is incredible. It's great to have the stadium financing. That was not an easy lift. I'm grateful to the governor, to the mayor, to Rhode Island Commerce, to Pawtucket City Council and everyone's support to get that stadium financing done. As I like to say, to be able to do something of this import in a state like Rhode Island is really special. Now the fun begins because we get to see the product week in and week out. And I'll tell you, I had proverbial tears in my eyes relative to the home opener at Bryant because what it really proved to me is that there's a great base of Rhode Islanders that are very proud to already be associated with it. I think the jury was out for a lot of people. You know, candidly, will Brett and his team get this done? Now they kind of recognize we did get the financing done, it will get done, it will be completed in about a year. We made a very strategic decision to start the club before moving into Tidewater to show Rhode Islanders what this product was going to be about. The early reviews were very favorable.

TBM: What would you prioritize here in the immediate for this club? Is it the financial? Is it the performance on the pitch? Is it something else?

BJ: So again, hopefully I'm not being too repetitive, but I want this to be Rhode Island's team. I couldn't be more clear about that. And I'm very encouraged by what I saw at Bryant. And now I think to myself, can I imagine what a Tidewater Stadium on this beautiful on the river in an incredible location, which is Pawtucket right off I-95. So that's where I feel like we'll continue to grow and Rhode Islanders will have an incredible source of ownership and pride literally in this club, in this stadium, and we'll build from there. And so again, I like I've got my capital and I've raised a lot of other investor capital. I'm absolutely dedicated to the positive return associated with that. And that positive return is going to come because people want to buy tickets. They want to sponsor the club. The merchandise sales from our first club, we sold $43,000 worth of merchandise. We could have sold $80,000 if we had enough, I guess, booth space, if you will. So it's a great sign that people are resonating with the mark and taking pride in it. And so anyway, it's early days. And but we're off to a good start. I mean, it's been five and a half years of work from that phone call to USL to kind of get into the point where we kick a soccer ball. So what I'm thrilled about is that we stayed the course and got a lot of very difficult things done. And that was my commitment all along. I was never going to retreat on this. And no matter what, I was going to I was going to see this through. I'm just pleased that we've been able to see it through with the partnership that we have with the state and with the city.

TBM: You know, I look at your multiple ownerships now and I can't help but wonder if there's a larger play and work where you've got the likes of a championship side in England, two championship clubs in in USL, a potential women's team somewhere. Is there a pipeline for talent? Could we could we see Ipswich prospects come to Rhode Island FC?

BJ: You’re spot on. God willing, Ipswich finds itself at the end of the season up in the Premier League. I mean, that would be that's to say it would be a dream come true, be an understatement. Mark Ashton and I talk all the time about ways for Ipswich and Rhode Island to collaborate with each other. I believe strongly that if you look at clubs like Ipswich, we have hundreds of incredibly talented kids in our academy. They play week in and week out in empty stadium. And that's not a proving ground to become a professional player. That USL superpower is that you can start to take some of the best and brightest. You can put them on loan in a Rhode Island. God willing, as we move into our stadium next season, we have 11,000 sold out week in week out. You go to Indy, sold out. Tampa, sold out. Louisville, sold out. So where can a 18-year-old kid get better quality minutes in front of bigger crowds than USL? I'm confident we'll figure out a way to have programs where we can get access to some of those players.

Where I get very excited is, how do we give great minutes to someone like Albert Dikwa, who lights up USL and then we find a way to kind of move him on to a club in France? It's a two way street. I look forward to kind of bringing great talent in that Rhode Islanders can look at and say, look, I just know this kid's gonna be a world class talent. God willing, they're gonna play in the Premier League someday, and it all started in Rhode Island. I'm very committed to the growth of the game and want to develop America. I want to see Rhode Island develop Rhode Islanders. I'm very proud of the fact that we have in our first season already have two Rhode Islanders signed up. I want it to become a beacon locally and obviously internationally.

TBM: Speaking of American players, is there part of your growth prospectus for the club? Are you anticipating a positive swing with the World Cup involvement coming in 2026?

BJ: World Cup is going to have a catalytic impact in taking the sport to a whole other level in this country, I couldn't be more excited about it. In many respects, there are countless friends and family that I know that ‘94 was probably well before they were born, but it was a big event in the United States. It converted a lot of people into fans of the beautiful game. So I think I think ‘26 is going to take it to a whole other level and I couldn't be more excited about it. I think Rhode Island is going to stand certainly given the proximity to so many of the venues for World Cup, I think a lot of people want to come over and kind of face themselves in Rhode Island. And again, that's the benefit of what this team can do is that we should see our stadium at least host friendlies leading up to World Cup, you know, two international teams that come over and want to get it. You know, they're not going to sell out Gillette. They'll come and play some friendlies in our stadium in Rhode Island. I think the future is really bright now that we've got that on track to get completed.

TBM: As an owner, your opinion on Pro-Rail has more at stake than anyone else in the discussion. What's your opinion on it? You know, what would you what would you think it needs to get across the finish line for this league to accept Pro-Rail?

BJ: I've seen this firsthand because of the joy of being involved with Ipswich where we were promoted last season. We're kind of in the hunt again, you know, this season for another promotion. But from my perspective, there is nothing as compelling as promotion or relegation in terms of, you know, literally games of consequence. Every single game matters. And so one of the reasons why you have such passionate fan base is because they tune in for every single game. And the reality is now just in the broader context, if you look at other sports like the NBA, et cetera, a regular season game between two NBA teams that, you know, might not make the playoffs. You know, it's just it's really not that interesting by and large.

And the reality is in American sport, there are a lot of team ownership that just gets to dial it in every year because there's no true consequences to it. And so what I love is promotion relegation really requires ownership to invest in winning and to avoid relegation. And there's no off game. You don't get to sit there and say, you know, we get to take a pass or these points don't matter. I think the benefit that USL has is it has a construct where candidly you could figure out how to create what I would define as, you know, maybe it's the ownership groups that have beautiful stadiums with a certain size that you can kind of create within the USL ecosystem. We'd all use the nomenclature of a Premier League. You have a championship and you have League One. So obviously, you know, I think most of the listeners are aware that USL already has League One, Division Three. So I think if we can find a pathway to have truly three levels and you can see a scenario where someone buys a League One franchise, they put a great product on the pitch, they win it and they go up to championship. That's fantastic. Like I feel like there's a lot of the challenge to get it done is understandably, there are a lot of ownership groups that would be worried about getting relegated per se. But I'm fairly confident there's a way for us to figure out the economics associated with that.

And I think the challenge, respectively, that MLS has, very difficult to turn to an ownership group, you know, that paid $400, $450 million for a franchise fee and then try to explain to them that actually they didn't do that well in their opening season and now they're going to be playing in a lower flight or they're not going to be on the Apple Pass. You know, I'm not quite sure how it works under that construct, but I do genuinely believe that what holds American soccer back and specifically what I would say is what holds MLS back, in my opinion, is the lack of relegation in terms of a lot of Americans would rather watch Premier League, that Serie A, you know, all the other European leagues in terms of the drama week in and week out, then by and large sort of two mediocre MLS teams that are both going to make the playoffs, like everyone's getting their prize, like it's just not as compelling day in and day out. And 10 years from now, the lack of it, I think, is going to continue to hold MLS back. From a valuation perspective, I don't think any of the MLS owners are complaining because the valuation gets inflated because of the lack of relegation.

So that's probably a lot more than you were looking for. But again, from my perspective, I'm adamant and committed that if USL can find a pathway to create what I'll call three levels and have true promotion relegation, I think it becomes a game changer in terms of how USL positions itself and differentiates itself in the soccer landscape in America. And I think it would be healthy because a lot of foreign clubs will probably sit there and say, look, I'd like to have a stake in a USL championship or League One team because I can start to look at players from America that I might want to put into my system and vice versa. I can look at loaning players that get better quality minutes. If you're a professional soccer player and you're playing in a team that's fighting for promotion or fighting to avoid relegation, I'm sure all of them will tell you it's a very different mindset than basically going into a game where it doesn't have anywhere near the stakes.

TBM: Can I ask then, as an owner, MLS's story sounds like it's the canary in the coal mine of what buying in can do to the promotion relegation system. USL has its own expansion requirements right now. And we see the likes of other teams coming online when it comes to joining the championship team, championship sides. Is that something that USL would need to kind of slow down on and rethink to integrate more teams? Because we have teams, I think, all the way through 2026 right now coming into the championship system. Does that push Pro-REL further down because we're continuing to online these championship side clubs?

BJ: If you look at championship, let's just say for easy math, there was a pathway where you could see 36 teams in championship in the next three years. You could look at taking 16 of those and creating what I would call the premier league. Louisville is a good example, beautiful stadium, great market, great crowds. Rhode Island I would hope to be in that frame as well. So can you create a tier where it's USL Premier League, USL Championship, USL League One, and then start to implement some form of promotion relegation across those three leagues? And I think in terms of media rights, it'll transform interest in USL. There'll be a lot of deep pocketed media platforms that would sit there and say, United States based league with promotional relegation with real quality stadiums, venues, ownership groups and quality soccer talent. Where do I sign up? Much easier said than done. But I think we can get there.

TBM: Whether it's the likes of TV shows such as Welcome to Wrexham, Ted Lasso, or the bumps we see every Nielsen circuit for World Cup, what needs to change for people with equity, for executives in America to start investing in clubs, not necessarily just in English-sided football, but in the likes of USL? Do you anticipate that that's something that will continue as a trend or is that something that needs to find its way through other mechanisms?

BJ: I am dedicated to USL because I think in the right size stadium, in the right market, there's a pathway for the team to be profitable and there's a pathway for the stadium to be profitable. And the reality is, if you look at global football, there's a lot of scenarios where that's not the case. As I like to say, none of it's for the faint of heart, but I am dedicated to doing everything I can to help ownership groups in USL be successful for hopefully based on some of the lessons I've learned, mistakes I've made, things that I've chosen to do, maybe differently, including and especially in Rhode Island.

What I will tell you is in the attention deficit disorder world that we live in, the constant distractions that people have, a compelling football match, soccer game, you don't want to look away. If you look away, you're going to miss something. If you're on your phone, you will miss something. And the reality is other sports, baseball, American football, basketball, the amount of timeouts, the amount of breaks, it's very difficult. I find it very difficult to sit through. I love the running clock of football. I think the reason why soccer is growing is because people are looking at the product and saying, man, that was a lot of fun.

And again, they can even start to recognize a 1-1 game, a 0-1 game can actually be a lot of fun as well. It can be very, very compelling. I’m bullish on the sport long term and the more people get introduced to it, the more they get hooked on it. I'm bullish on MLS. I'm bullish on USL. I'm bullish on soccer at large in America and kind of globally. love to see what's going on with the guys at Wrexham. 10 years ago, trying to talk to someone about investing in what I call soccer as an asset class wasn't the easiest conversation. Now it's easy. They see the opportunity of sport as an asset class, soccer as an asset class, and there's a lot of ways to properly play it without having to try to buy in at a billion dollar valuation for an MLS club.

After the interview, Brett invited us to stay and watch Ipswich Town FC take on Blackburn Rovers as they fight for an automatic promotion back in to the Premier League. While time will tell on the success of Ipswich Town FC and Rhode Island FC, it was clear to this reporter on the day that as many entrepreneurs, business owners, and other personalities in the office sat to talk about their vested interests, projects and business developments, Brett Johnson remained glued to the TV for all 90 minutes as he watched his Tractor Boys secure a win and take the top spot in the table reinforcing that he is completely dedicated to these teams.

RIFC will be back home at Bryant Stadium on Saturday, April 6th at 7:30pm as they square off against the 2023 USL Championship runner-ups, the Charleston Battery for their first eastern conference matchup or watch the game on NESN or EPSN+.