Oakland Roots Sports Club to play at Coliseum in 2025

OAKLAND, Calif. – Oakland Roots Sports Club officials announced on Monday that they will be playing inside the Oakland Coliseum in 2025. 

“We are honored to be able to play our 2025 season in such an iconic venue,” Oakland Roots SC President Lindsay Barenz said at a news conference. “We’re proud to ensure pro sports stay at the Coliseum next year.”

The deal, for now, only applies to the men’s Roots team. Barenz explained that the women’s team, Soul, plays in the USL League, which is a pre-professional league. Soul can move into the fully professional league once they have a permanent stadium. 

Oakland Roots and Soul will continue to work with the city and Alameda County towards a modular interim stadium on the Malibu Lot property adjacent to the Coliseum, which is named that because it used to be home to the Malibu Grand Prix, Barenz said. 

“Our plans for developing that site and stadium continue,” she said. “And currently it is on pace to be opened in the spring of 2026.” 

The team is installing a permanent soccer pitch at the venue, eliminating the need for field conversion at the Coliseum to support soccer matches.

The Roots and Soul, which have a partnership with KTVU, currently play at Cal State East Bay in Hayward and Merritt College facilities, respectively. 

The Oakland -Alameda County Coliseum Board vote in March to negotiate a lease at the Coliseum came one day after the Oakland A’s baseball team met with the city to negotiate a possible lease extension.

That negotiation fell apart. And the A’s are set to head to Las Vegas. 

Last week, Oakland announced it would sell  its share of the Coliseum to the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, a local Black-led development team. The A’s, which purchased the county’s share of the site in 2019, also agreed to sell to AASEG.

“Roots and Soul (the women’s soccer team) radiate Oakland pride in the community and every time they step on the pitch. They are a model franchise and the Town’s global ambassadors to the soccer world,” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said. “I’m excited they have chosen to invest in Oakland and make our city their home. Oakland fans deserve a sports team that is dedicated, energetic and community oriented and I am pleased to support the club with the full force of my administration. The future is Roots and Soul.”

Oakland Roots will host a celebration at One Toyota of Oakland in collaboration with the Housing Consortium of the East Bay to celebrate the return to Oakland and future of the Club at both the Coliseum and the adjacent Malibu Lot on Aug. 25.