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Oakland Soccer Team Proposes New Stadium After A’s Walk Away
(Bloomberg) -- An upstart professional soccer club in California is proposing to build a stadium next to the ballpark that Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics is set to leave behind.
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The Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club said in a statement Thursday that it’s seeking a 10-year lease on a site next to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex, which also includes the arena where the National Basketball Association’s Golden State Warriors used to play.
The announcement comes a day after the A’s agreed to purchase land in Las Vegas for a new ballpark after long-running negotiations with Oakland City Council, leading Mayor Sheng Thao to criticize the departing team.
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“It’s clear to me the A’s have no intention of staying in Oakland and have been simply using the process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas,” said Thao in a statement.
The Roots desire to build a team in Oakland comes after years of discontent between sports fans, their teams and the city. The city even tried — and failed — to sue the NFL’s Raiders and the National Football League for damages, alleging the team’s decision to move to Las Vegas in 2017 was illegal.
The Roots, a United Soccer League team that has been playing on a nearby community college’s field for five seasons, has been seeking to build its own 10,000-seat stadium. The Roots’ stadium plans — in addition to city approval — will require working with a development group planning commercial and residential projects on the sprawling coliseum site after the departure of the A’s, which own that land with the city.
“We continue our discussions with the African American Sports & Entertainment Group to see how our organizations can coexist, succeed, thrive and create a brighter future for Oakland,” the Roots said in the statement.
The AASEG has set its sights on bringing an NFL franchise to Oakland. It has also been working to bring a WNBA team to the arena, which was the home of the Warriors for 47 seasons before the team moved across the bay to San Francisco in 2019.
The Roots, the club’s men’s team, plays in the league a tier down from Major League Soccer. The club’s investors include hometown Oakland NFL great Marshawn Lynch, who played for the Raiders after spending most of his pro career at the Seattle Seahawks.
The soccer team has attracted a loyal if small fan base despite not having a home field. The season opener this month had to be postponed and then moved to the nearby city of Hayward because of a rain-soaked field.
The club has added a women’s team, the Oakland Soul, that will play its first home game in May and compete in the pre-professional USL W league. That team may also contend for fans with a new National Women’s Soccer League professional team next year.
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“We are truly excited to see this level of commitment from Oakland Roots and Oakland Soul SC to the town,” Mayor Thao said in the team’s statement. “In just a few short years, the Roots have become a beloved institution in Oakland, and we are thrilled they will soon be joined by Oakland Soul.”
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