Oakland Roots are set to announce they have finalized the Oakland Coliseum as their home stadium for the 2025 season on Monday, marking an end to a nearly a year-long campaign to play at the historic location.
Roots’ agreement at the Coliseum will run until through 2025. The Soul have yet to be announced, which would officially allpw them to enter the USL Super League, becoming a Division 1 program in the United States soccer pyramid. The USL Super League’s current regular season runs through December.
Roots called for a press conference at the Coliseum’s Treehouse on Monday to make its approval official with Mayor Sheng Thao, Council Member and Joint Powers Authority Chair Rebecca Kaplan, and Oakland Roots and Soul President Lindsay Barenz speaking on behalf of the organization.
Back in November, Barenz made the initial declaration of the organization’s interest in becoming “anchor tenant” for the Coliseum.
“In the October meeting, executive director Gardner reported that the staff would be pursuing events for the 2025 season at the Coliseum,” said Barenz last November. “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. Its connection to the community and its soccer-ready layout make it a great location for our games.”
Then in March, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum JPA passed Roots and Soul’s motion to play at the location with a unanimous 6 votes, setting in motion the club’s plans. At the time, Mayor Thao already declared the club would call the site home.
Roots asked supporters to call on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to move forward on the Coliseum the following month, bringing over 45 minutes of speakers on their behalf. On May 17, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority approved a resolution by a 6-0 vote to negotiate an event licensing agreement with the JPA to allow Roots and Soul to call the Coliseum home.
Last month was potentially the final turn in the saga to permit the club to solidify its entrance into the Coliseum when the the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority officially extended its special event licensing and right of entry agreement to Roots and Soul. At the time, JPA executive director Henry Gardner said the right of entry agreement allowed Roots and Soul to undertake the installation of their soccer field in order to meet USL standards ahead of its opener in March 2025.
Oakland Roots now turn their attention toward finalizing the Malibu Lot as their home for 2026 and onward through the next decade. The organization also announced on July 10 it received unanimous approval by the City of Oakland Planning Commission for its construction plans on the site.
Roots are still targeting the spring of 2025 to start construction at Malibu Lot in view of a February 2026 opening. When asked about staying long-term at the Coliseum instead of the Malibu lot, a high-ranking club source responded Malibu Lot is still the top priority in order to limit expenses and have the club truly control its own destiny.
Now that the Coliseum agreement is complete, we’ll provide more information on the Malibu Lot as the news becomes available.
Great news. Please tell me they’ll find a way to ge us closer to the pitch. the diagram in the announcement vid makes it look like we’ll be Serie A levls of distance away from the pitch. are they considering moving modular seating onto the field?
It sure would make sense to re-use the modular sideline seating that the Raiders once used to bring supporters closer to the pitch.
Don’t worry! I used Google Earth and the field would be about 80 yards LONG if it was really the way they have it in that rendering.
I’d look at how the Raiders set up the Coliseum field, but since the field is quite a bit wider the seats will end up pretty close to the action.
About modular seating, I don’t think that the Roots will use the added Mount Davis seats, since their website says fans will be on the lower bowl of the west side (main bowl) of the stadium. I think that side will be for the benches, and the area from the 10 yard line to the other 10 that kind of curves will be made straight with field seating.
Point is if you’re willing to pay you shouldn’t worry about sitting close.