The date was August 31, 2019, the Oakland Roots’ inaugural match at Laney College. With my arm around my eight-year-old nephew and friends in tow, we belted out a chorus of “OAAAAAKLAAAAAAAAAAAND” along East 10th Street as fellow fans joined in.
The Raiders had already declared their move to Las Vegas, while the Golden State Warriors moved across the bridge to San Francisco two months prior. That August night brought a cathartic sense that something special was starting with each roar of “Oakland.”
With the arrival of Roots, there was finally an organization that loved and appreciated its fans back. At the time, it felt assured that lovers of soccer, sports, and the Town had found a home.
Last week, the organization revealed they are seeking $15 million from new investors as they look to build a temporary stadium at its training facility on Bay Farm Island while pursuing a permanent site at Howard Terminal.
After speaking with figureheads at the organization, The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson wrote that Oakland Roots are facing the unimaginable after that August 2019 sellout.
“The Roots say they need $15 million to finally capture more of the money their popularity generates. Without it, the club must start grappling with the reality that the future that once felt so certain coul-d evaporate before it reaches it,” Thompson wrote. “… Thus, a homegrown franchise born to galvanize a city at its sports nadir is struggling to find deep pockets to fund its mission… Their fate is now tied to the hope that someone wealthy cares about this as much as the community they’ve built.
Maybe that’s the most damning indictment of what professional sports have become. The Oakland Roots have what we love most about sports. But the business of sports keeps reminding us — love might no longer live here.”
Following its 2019 NISA campaign, I returned for the start of Roots’ 2020 season, just days before the pandemic. It left a lasting memory, lining up around the corner flag by the short fence, aptly named the Sideshow Section.
Little did I know there were several fans around me who I’d grow close to in the years to follow.
That is what is most beautiful about the Oakland Roots: the people.
It wasn’t Too Short slapping out the speakers, not the pre-game street party, not the goals, not wins; it was the building of a community that grabbed my heart. I was proud to be at the start of it, and am still proud to be here all these years later.
Roots returned from the pandemic for the 2021 USL Championship season. That was when I met my RootsBlog comrades, Aaron and Peter, and decided that the club needed a journalist to provide coverage and an objective viewpoint.
From there, I met members of the Oakland 68s, who were locked into a fight to keep the Athletics in Oakland. We quickly became friends.
My childhood friend, Steven, created another of the club’s supporters groups, the Homegrown Hooligans in 2021. Through Homegrown, I’ve made too many friends to count. We go to home and away games together, coordinate tailgates, and host watch parties at my house or local bars/restuarants.
Los Roots SG was created in 2022 to give Roots’ Latin fanbase a home after organizations like the Raiders, A’s, and Warriors never made an effort to honor Oakland’s Latin community. During this year’s World Cup, I felt adopted by fans of the Mexico National Team because of Los Roots and the club’s Mexican fanbase.
That’s me in the video below doing the “Quiere Volar” after Mexico’s win over Ecuador.
The community the Oakland Roots built is exactly why sports in The Town is worth investing in.
The people of The Town make it one of the most culturally diverse and beautiful cities in the world. Being from Oakland brings a different sense of pride, knowing you are at the center point of diversity, counterculture, art, activism, and outward thinking that has formed how we process the world around us.
Since Day 1, the Oakland Roots have been shaped by honoring its local community in a way no other sporting organization in the world has. That alone is worth investing in, as shown by attracting over 6,000 local investors in its Community Investment Campaign.
So, with all that being said, here’s what I would like to tell the club:
Dear Oakland Roots,
I’m not sure if you know exactly what you mean to me.
I’ve taken a professional approach with you that has established a cult-like online following. It has given me respect as a journalist in the Oakland and USL community. But you are so much more to me than just clicks and views.
You are family.
You’ve created friendships that I hope last the rest of my life. You created a community that transcends sports, bringing people together from all walks of life.
I was a kid whose heart bled Silver-and-Black.
I forgot what sports meant to me as a kid, and as my career progressed, the business of sport became all I recognized.
There wasn’t time for that child, who cried every time the Raiders lost. There wasn’t time for my inner child, whose heart broke when my favorite team moved to Las Vegas. Instead, I had to make sense of each team leaving town, because dollars are all that made sense in this world.
But you changed that, Oakland Roots.
You showed me that there is still a place for that inner child. You showed there was still an organization that loves its fans, that we aren’t just numbers and tickets. You showed there is still a franchise that honors everything that Oakland represents.
You are worth fighting for. And I know many out there feel the same way.
From,
Jonathan.
Below is a collection of open letters from fans of the club
Jorge Bejarano
To Oakland Roots,
Oakland has been my home since I was four years old. Sports have always been a huge part of my life and my connection to this city. Growing up in Oakland, I was fortunate enough to experience what it meant to be a die-hard fan of our hometown teams. I was a season ticket holder for both the A’s and the Raiders.
They were part of my childhood, my memories, my identity, and what made me proud to call Oakland home. Watching both organizations leave our city was absolutely devastating. It felt like pieces of our city’s identity were being taken away.
When Oakland Roots came along, they gave us something we desperately needed: something to believe in again.
We started Los Roots, our Latino supporters group for Oakland Roots. We’ve been there for every chapter, from the early days at Laney College to Cal State East Bay and eventually the Oakland Coliseum. What started as supporting a soccer team became something much bigger. We created a space where the Latino community could come together, celebrate our culture, represent our city, and feel like we truly belonged. The friendships, the traditions, the chants, the flags, and the memories we’ve built along the way are things that go far beyond the 90 minutes on the field.
What makes Oakland Roots so special to me is that they represent the Oakland I grew up loving.
A city built on diversity, culture, resilience, and community. In a time when Oakland has lost so much, the Roots have given people a reason to come together and take pride in where we’re from. We’ve invested more than just our money into this club. We’ve invested our time, our passion, our culture, and our hearts. I cannot imagine why others wouldn’t buy in.
To some people, Oakland Roots might just be another soccer team. But to me, they represent hope, belonging, and the future of sports in Oakland. We’ve already lost so much of what made our city special, and we shouldn’t have to keep fighting to hold on to what’s left.
Oakland Roots aren’t just a team we support. They’re part of who we are, and they’re part of what keeps Oakland’s spirit alive.
From,
Jorge
Peter Bloom
Dear Oakland Roots,
How do I even begin to say what this club means to me? I have loved a lot of sports teams in my life in a lot of different places, but Roots are the first club that I feel loves me back.
Roots are a community and the community itself. I have met more new and different people through seven seasons as a Roots fan than I have through all other avenues in the last ten years. Roots got me into podcasting, blogging, and back into playing the tuba.
This club keeps me in touch with one of my oldest and best friends. Roots shit-talked a U.S. Senator on Twitter. Roots fans taunted ICE on a massive tifo broadcast on ESPN Plus.
Roots are Oakland in a way that makes me proud to be Oakland.
Up the fucking Roots
-Peter
Daniel Poulter
Dear Oakland Roots and Roots Family,
First of all, thank you. However this next chapter for the Oakland Roots goes… Thank you.
The Oakland Roots have been a coverage beat for me, but this has been so much more. From the first media day officially covering the team less than two years ago until now. Thank you.
I followed the Oakland Roots from afar for years, but I’ll never forget the last two years. The people I am now lucky to call friends, from Roots staff, players, and fans. From all the ups and downs, I have never had a bad moment covering this team, and for that I say thank you. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Covering the Oakland Roots has allowed me an opportunity I will always remember. The Oakland Coliseum was a place where part of my love of sports began as a child… From Pac Bell, Candlestick, and so much more.
To return home for its final two seasons and to be able to explore the press boxes I once dreamed of as a kid was an experience I’ll always cherish. From the secret bathrooms, sitting alone in a press box made for a bygone era, or seeing what relics the Oakland A’s abandoned. Thank you for all of it.
To the fans. Thank you for welcoming me into your community with open arms. From recording videos in my bedroom the day after games, to being recognized on the street in Sacramento, and of course to postgame Al Pastor tacos. I wouldn’t trade this beat for the world.
Thank you, Oakland Roots and Roots Family. Hopefully there will be many more years to come.
Regards,
Oakland Roots Beat Writer, Daniel Poulter
Ivan Ornales
Dear Oakland Roots,
As someone who grew up in the East Bay in the 2000s and lived there for most of my life, even now as I live in the Sacramento Area, I care deeply about the Oakland Roots.
My family immigrated from Mexico to Oakland in the 1970s and 80s. My late grandfather saved whatever he could to take my dad and his siblings to Oakland Athletics games. From there, my dad shared his fandom of the Raiders, Warriors, and A’s with my two brothers and me.
In the years since, we’ve seen Oakland teams leave the city.
While the decisions behind the scenes are more complex, the overarching narrative the public saw was that Oakland wasn’t deemed worthy of good things such as sports teams. An area of immense diversity of every walk of life you can think of with such historical importance. Wave after wave of gentrification, our teams tied all Oakland residents and the East Bay as a whole together. Especially as the San Francisco counterparts of the 49ers and Giants enjoyed a lot of success, we remained defiantly loyal.
This is why I humbly advocate for Oakland Roots to remain intact, for investment to remain, and to remain committed to building a winning product. That means more than just designing the most beautiful jerseys in the USL. History treats itself as I once again find myself seeing the club I love on the ropes. I still have hope that the Roots can get back to the playoffs and exceed that current glass ceiling. But it all starts at the top.
Thank you.
-Ivan Ornelas
Nick Fritz-Codling
Dear Oakland Roots,
When the Roots started up at Laney in 2019, I felt spoiled that I could watch professional soccer in an intimate setting just 10 minutes from where I lived. Little did I know I’d make friends with people I’d never met before who were in my own community.
Going through all the ups and downs of a season, COVID, site changes from Oakland to Livermore to Hayward, then back to Oakland, and a temporary home in Alameda.
Here’s to hoping that investors see the exciting future that lies ahead for a team that’s been transient. Now able to have a place to call home, and it’s OURS.
From,
Nick Fritz-Codling
Lina Pelayo-Guzman
Dear Oakland Roots,
When it was announced that Oakland would be getting a new professional soccer team back in 2019, there was immediate excitement in my family. It brought a renewed sense of pride in our city with the futbol culture we’ve all grown up with.
Through the years of attending matches and cheering for the Oakland Roots, our family has grown, and we’ve made countless new friends.
It’s been magical to connect with players and futbol fans from all backgrounds. We are most grateful to experience the diversity of futbol culture uniquely shaped by Oaklanders and the East Bay community, and we hope to continue this family tradition for years to come.
From,
Lina
Alejandro Bautista
Dear Oakland Roots,
Futbol has always been present in my family. Even though we all root for different teams in Liga MX, the sport is what unites us.
Oakland Roots SC has made our family bond even stronger. Roots have allowed my family to create incredible memories on and off the field, and in the parking lot for our tailgates.
We want to continue making memories and lift some trophies along the way.
From,
Alejandro
Ana Rivera
Dear Oakland Roots,
Since the inception of Oakland Roots, My Yute Soccer has stood by and witnessed the seeds of the Roots grow and become a pillar of sports and change in the community.
My Yute Soccer has now become a purpose partner. Annually at our free kids soccer camp, we have player appearances and get equipment to ensure a smooth camp. In their support of the Longfellow Fields project, seeing a club actually working to make more playing fields in their city is extremely rare.
Oakland Roots were not only dropping roots in Oakland. The roots of this project have reached the shores of Treasurer Beach in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. Without the support of the club, we wouldn’t have been able to bless the children with new balls, which is one of the best gifts you can give a kid in Jamaica to support their football dreams.
The Roots are beyond a sports organization; they are true agents of change.
From,
Ana
Steve Bowles
Dear Oakland Roots,
I wasn’t a soccer fan before. Never played, at least not on a level above “standing around in eighth-grade P.E.” I seldom watched, outside of microdosing the U.S. teams and World Cup competition every few years.
Ever since attending my first Roots game back in 2019, I was hooked.
Being surrounded by long-time friends who encouraged me to come out and give it a shot, meeting new friends, seeing the game from close up at prices that don’t make me whimper uncontrollably, the accessibility of the players, and the alacrity with which they gave their time to fans: that’s community right there.
From,
Steve
David Sanchez
Dear Oakland Roots,
The recent news surrounding the team’s future has brought up familiar feelings.
Growing up, I got to experience the joys of following the Raiders and A’s and the gut-wrenching apathy that came with their departure. It sucked.
But it was easy to leave both sports behind altogether because my true love is soccer. I always dreamed of having a local team to cheer for, so you can imagine my excitement when my friend told me about a second-division soccer team in Oakland in 2021.
I went to my first Roots game at Laney College, and I’ve been in love with this team ever since. The merch is top tier, the fans are fantastic, and, most importantly, the games are fun. I always bring one or multiple people I care about, and we celebrate/commiserate while catching up. The double-headers, landing conveniently around my birthday, were special to me as I’d exhaust all the patience in my family as they marathon soccer with me. But they became fans, and I got to celebrate watching the team I care so much about.
Seeing that the team might not be able to continue operations sucks more than I imagined. I knew the road to stability is tough, but I was excited for each step.
The Alameda site enabling off-field stability and on-field success. The potential stadium at Howard Terminal. The Soul going pro and the expansion of Project 51O. And being able to drag more of my friends and family along this journey of mine following the Roots. I hope it continues.
A big fan,
David
Bruce Valentine
Dear Oakland Roots,
This club holds a grip on my heart and soul.
Long live the Oakland Roots!
From,
Bruce
Ross Retzler
Dear Oakland Roots,
I am a man of few words, but this club means the world to me. Being a fan of the Roots is an outward expression of my love for Oakland and the community I live in.
From,
Ross