Oakland Roots Will Play Home Games at Oakland Coliseum

The Oakland Roots professional soccer team agreed to a 3 million dollar deal to play soccer at the Oakland Coliseum.Photo byPhoto by POOL/KPIX

In a local press conference and an announcement on their website, the Oakland Roots Sports Club announced that they will play their 2025 season at the Oakland Coliseum while an interim stadium for the Roots and the women's team, the Oakland Soul, is built. It will be a 10,000-seat stadium and will open in 2026.

The Oakland Roots are in the United Soccer League, which is the league below Major League Soccer, which is the top professional league in the United States. Even though it's considered a pyramid league, American and Canadian soccer does not relegate or promote teams like in other parts of the world.

The Roots are owned by Oakland investors. What's interesting is that they have some heavy hitters who have invested in the team.

Among the investors are former NFL star Marshawn Lynch, former NBA star Jason Kidd, and Antonio Davis. Also included are Green Day's Billy Joe Armstrong, rapper G-Eazy, Sway Calloway, and former WNBA stars Ruthie Bolton and Alexis Gray-Lawson, just to name some of them.

The focus is to create another “rooted in Oakland” team like the Ballers ownership has. After two 1st place finishes, the last few years have been a struggle for the Roots, as they placed 4th–10th in those years, missing the playoffs. The hopes are that this will be a rejuvenation of the team for greater success. Presently, the Roots and Soul have a partnership deal with KTVU, and they and the Soul play at Merritt College.

The African American Sports & Entertainment Group (AASEG), which has a lot of plans to create a $5 billion-dollar complex at the Coliseum site with affordable housing and many other businesses to make much-needed upgrades in Oakland,.