Today, May 17, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority approved a resolution by a 6-0 vote to negotiate an event licensing agreement between the Joint Powers Authority and Oakland Roots & Soul to play its matches at the Oakland Coliseum for the 2025 season.
During the session, council member Rebecca Kaplan mentioned a final budget approval meeting will take place in June.
Provided is a copy of the summarized resolution by executive director Henry Gardner:
In March, the Joint Powers Authority originally approved Roots & Soul’s motion to play at the Coliseum by all six aye votes. However, the last we heard in April was the club urging the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to make a decision.
Despite Roots & Soul playing at the Coliseum being advertised as a done-deal by Mayor Sheng Thao, the wheels are still turning towards finalizing the plan. Kaplan also declared in Friday’s May 17 meeting that Oakland Roots and Soul “will be at the Coliseum” in 2025.
Back in November, Roots & Soul president Lindsay Barenz announced the organization is “very interested” in being an anchor tenant for the Coliseum in 2025.
“In the October meeting, executive director Gardner reported that the staff would be pursuing events for the 2025 season at the Coliseum,” said Barenz at the meeting. “Oakland Roots and Soul are very interested in serving as an anchor tenant of the Coliseum in 2025 while we continue to pursue construction of a modular stadium at the Malibu site. We are very excited for this opportunity, it would be an honor to carry on the tradition of having professional sports teams in Oakland call the Coliseum its home. The Coliseum is proximity to public transportation. It’s connection to the community and its soccer-ready layout make it a great location for our games.
“Playing at the Coliseum would more than double our fan capacity, allowing more of our community to attend our games. We are selling out Soul games, we have hit capacity multiple times for our Roots games, and the recent success of our Community Investment Round shows there is more demand for soccer in Oakland and the East Bay.”
Roots and Soul still await Alameda County approval to play at the Coliseum for its 2025 season after the JPA’s unanimous approval in March. Most recently, support came out in droves for April 16’s board meeting, where 45 minutes of speakers urged the county to move forward with Coliseum, Malibu Lot, and Harbor Bay Parkway plans.
We’ll provide more information on Roots and Soul’s stadium as the news becomes available. Enter your email below to support the blog and get instant updates.