The Oakland Coliseum Joint Powers Authority announced on October 3 that they are entering a license agreement with Oakland Roots for the club to continue playing at the Coliseum in 2026. Conditions are currently subject to approval by the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda.
Per the document, JPA executive director Henry Gardner has reached “material terms” on a license agreement with Oakland Roots.
“The Executive Director has come to material terms for a License Agreement
with OPS [Oakland Pro Soccer LLC], subject to satisfaction of the License Contingencies and Board, City and County approval,” the statement reads.
The agreement will cost Roots $135,000 to $297,000 per game day event, and a base license fee of $1,500 per month for a storage area.
During a September 19 Joint Powers Authority meeting, Gardner mentioned that Roots requested to play for two years at the Coliseum. However, the Joint Powers Authority considers it to be “highly problematic,” meaning 2026 could be the club’s final campaign at the Coliseum.
“We received their request in April of this year, and they had asked for two years. We saw that as being highly problematic, and so we have had a number of meetings with them,” Gardner said.
At the time in September, Gardner indicated there were still some “language issues,” but those were not considered major. Now with October 3’s announcement, those topics may be hammered away.
“The major terms, I think there is at least penciled agreement. There are still language issues, a few other terms; I do not regard those as that major, and we’re moving towards concluding our negotiations with them in October,” Gardner said.
Roots is the only team to be requested, meaning Soul still will not play at the Coliseum full-time and therefore will be ineligible to enter the USL Super League.
“Their request is for another one year commencing March 2026 and concluding by the first of November 2026. They had indicated to us that they expect again for this to be Roots only games, not Soul,” Garnder said.
Gardner added that the organization may request Soul to play “one or more” games at the Coliseum.
“We have heard more recently that they may want to have one or more Soul games played at the stadium as well. So, that is under discussion,” Gardner said.
The Joint Powers Authority also misjudged Oakland Roots attendance figures by nearly 40-55 percent.
Oakland Arena & Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum general manager Nicole Strange, who is leading negotiations, said Roots’ average attendance was between 4,000-4,500 this season when subtracting the home opener.
Strange’s estimation was mightily inaccurate.
Taking away the home opener on March 22, Roots average 6,209 patrons per match, which is 55.22 percent more than 4,000, which would rank Oakland at No. 9 of 24 teams.
With two home games remaining in 2025, Roots are currently No. 6 in the USL Championship with an average attendance of 7,881. Their 26,575 figure on March 22 is the league’s No. 9 all-time attendance number, becoming the USL Championship’s leader among all active teams. Oakland is the only organization in league history other than FC Cincinnati or Orlando City SC to eclipse 20,500 patrons. Both Cincy and Orlando now reside in Major League Soccer.
A 6,209 average would put them 74 patrons above Roots’ 2023 and 2024 home at Pioneer Stadium, which held a max capacity of 6,135. Moreover, it is 701 people above the max capacity of Roots’ 2019, 2020, and 2022 home site at Laney College of 5,508.
Although Gardner called Roots playing at the Coliseum past 2026 highly problematic, the door isn’t closed. At the meeting, Gardner indicated that the projected sale of the property to AASEG will happen on June 30 of next year. JPA commissioner David Haubert said that to ensure the Coliseum is not unused, Roots playing there in 2027 remains a possibility.
“I foresee that the acquirer is going to have a lot of questions about whether they should grant consent or not, and it’s going to center around the cost to operate the stadium. Those questions are going to need to be answered for them to grant consent, because once they own it, they also own any shortfalls. What I suspect is that if we want to work together to keep this facility open, to not let it go unused, to allow Roots to play. And in 2027, we’re going to have to have some bridge time where the city and the county, as owners, are going to have to work with them to bridge a time frame for when they do own it, in order for them to feel comfortable granting consent,” Haubert said.
Back in January, Oakland Roots confirmed they put an end to their plans for a temporary stadium at Malibu Lot and intend to stay at the Coliseum on a short-term basis as they shift focus toward their permanent stadium search.
Roots and Soul president Lindsay Barenz said the Coliseum will give them “stability” in the coming years.
“Oakland Roots and Soul are committed to securing a permanent home in Oakland, and this decision allows us to focus our efforts on making that vision a reality,” Barenz said, via the team’s site. “By staying at the Coliseum in the short term, we are ensuring stability for our players, fans, and community and keeping the Coliseum as a productive asset for the community. We remain dedicated to building something sustainable and deeply rooted in Oakland, and we look forward to continuing this journey alongside our supporters and partners. We also want to thank everyone at the city and county for working towards an outcome at Malibu and appreciate their support for making a soccer stadium in Oakland a reality.”
This has been in Roots’ thought process for the past year. In October 2024, Barenz said they were “very interested” in extending their lease into 2026.
“We are very interested if the opportunity becomes available to extend our ability to play at the Coliseum,” she said. “A key to us getting to financial sustainability is getting to a larger stadium. The move to the Coliseum is the first step in the direction of getting financial sustainability… The Coliseum’s amenities changes the profile of how much we can raise on the ticketing side by six times.”
The wheels were already turning for possibly playing a second season at the Coliseum back in Roots’ press conference to announce the site as its new home in August 2024, where Barenz said extending another year is something they would “definitely consider.” At the time, JPA chair Rebecca Kaplan and commissioner Haubert indicated Roots had been working in lockstep with AASEG, and there shouldn’t be any issues if things went that way.
“Short answer, I’ll say yes. I’ll lean into that one,” Haubert said in August 2024.
Kaplan then went further at the 2024 press conference, saying AASEG already has a “cooperation agreement” with Roots.
“I’ll join my JPA colleague in saying yes,” Kaplan said. “We are celebrating the 2025 plan, but I don’t see any reason why they can’t be here in 2026 if that turned out to be a request. We are in the process of transferring ownership to AASEG, but I also want to be clear that AASEG already has a cooperation agreement in place with Oakland Roots and Soul to work together on their presence. They are already working together, and I wouldn’t anticipate any problems with any of that.”
We’ll provide more information on Roots and the Coliseum as the information becomes available.