Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club

What started as a dream is now a reality. In 2025, Oakland Roots will play in the Oakland Coliseum, one of the most iconic sports venues in the United States that has played host to World Series games, the biggest bands on the planet, and even Brazil soccer legend Pelé, FIFA’s Player of the Century.

The Coliseum increases our maximum capacity at games 10X. The lower bowl seats 15,000 (three times the size of our current venue) and we can host over 50,000 for key matches (we see you Sacramento!).

Since our founding in 2018, we have redefined soccer in the Bay Area and drawn national attention for our passionate, diverse, and inclusive gameday experience. Now we're poised to bring world-class soccer back to Oakland, keep pro sports in a beloved venue, and help jobs, investment, and joy stay in a community that needs it. The future of Bay Area soccer starts here.

Being an investor means owning equity, funding the next stage of growth in the Coliseum, and getting to participate in our collective success. It’s Our Town. It’s Our Time.

Oakland Roots SC games are "must attend" events, with an expected 80,000+ fans attending Roots games this year. Our world-class Net Promoter Score reflects the enthusiasm of our supporters, who rave about our unique blend of elite soccer, culture, music, and art. Our rapidly growing fanbase is earning national attention, with features from the USL and the New York Times highlighting our passionate community. The Roots have made the playoffs in three out of the past four years, so we also win.

Oakland Soul SC, our women's team, had an undefeated 2024 regular season in the USL W League, made its second consecutive playoff appearance, and hosted its first-ever home playoff game. The June 2024 double-header with Roots set an all-time attendance record, showcasing the potential for women’s soccer in Oakland. The team’s exciting blend of talent and purpose-driven culture makes Soul one of the league’s elite.

The USL Super League launched in 2024 with Division One sanctioning, competing at the highest level for women’s soccer in the U.S. We hold the rights to bring the Soul to the USL Super League. The league has signed a multi-year broadcast deal with NBC/Peacock, offering fans broad access to games.

Project 51O, our team that develops younger homegrown players into pros, made playoff appearances in 2023 and 2024, and multiple players signed professional contracts. We’ve seen a 20x increase in minutes played by these younger players on the Roots. A standout example is 19-year-old Ilya Alekseev, who recently signed a pro contract with the Roots, scored two goals for the first team this season.

Sports are about more than wins and losses - they’re about uniting the community. With the departure of the Raiders, Warriors, and soon the Athletics, Oakland Roots and Soul are stepping in to fill the void left in a city of 425,000 and nearly 3 million East Bay residents. As a recent New York Times article said, "Teams Leave, but Oakland Still Finds Reasons to Cheer."

Sports section in The New York Times.

In a community hit hard by the pandemic, crime, and the loss of three sports teams, we’ve become a source of hope, joy, and unity. We’re committed to creating a healthier, more equitable future, especially for youth who lack access to sports. Partnering with organizations like Oakland Unified School District and Positive Coaching Alliance, we tackle barriers including the lack of affordable programs, trained coaches, and safe spaces to play. Our camps and initiatives, supported by the Oakland Roots & Soul Foundation, have provided thousands of underserved kids with free soccer access.

Our Oakland Coach Academy, launched last year, addresses these challenges by training diverse coaches with the technical, social, and emotional skills needed to impact underserved communities. The first cohort saw 35 coaches (50% women, 98% BIPOC) graduate with US Soccer licenses and essential community-focused training.

We also launched the second cohort of Switch the Pitch, our anti-racism initiative through Common Goal, a global movement uniting stars like Naomi Girma, Megan Rapinoe, and Juergen Klopp. As the only US club member of Common Goal, we’re committed to creating a more inclusive game from grassroots to boardroom. We’re proud to have a diverse front office and coaching staff and to be on the steering committee of USL Forward, an initiative to improve diversity in soccer’s leadership. As part of this effort, we participated in the Pro Preseason Residency, helping to prepare underrepresented talent for executive and technical roles in the sport.

Our social media reaches a broad, engaged audience, telling stories that celebrate Oakland culture. For instance, a taco battle video hit a million views on TikTok and IG Reels. Roots’ merchandise - worn by local icons like Damian Lillard, Daveed Diggs, and Billie Joe Armstrong - has established us as a lifestyle brand recognized by Men in Blazers, Golazo, and Hypebeast.

This strong brand presence has led to partnerships with top companies like Charly, Anthem Blue Cross, UCSF Health and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, CircleCI, and AVA Community Energy, along with many more national, regional, and local businesses. These relationships are vital as we continue growing our impact on and off the field.

We are returning professional soccer to the Oakland Coliseum for the 2025 season after signing a lease in August. Fans have watched soccer in the Coliseum for decades, starting with Oakland Clippers in 1968 when global star Pele came to town. The Oakland Stompers played the 1978 NASL season here, opening with 32,104 fans at a game versus the San Jose Earthquakes. The Earthquakes also played David Beckham's LA Galaxy in 2008 with nearly 40,000 fans attending.

We are revitalizing the Coliseum as a top-tier soccer destination, bringing excitement and fans back to the venue in East Oakland. We will set up for most games with 15,000 seats, including multiple types of seating options. And we have the capability to expand to over 50,000 for big games. The all grass field will be set-up for soccer for the entire season, eliminating the need for field conversion to support soccer matches. And the Coliseum is one of the most transit-accessible sites in California with freeways, public transit, and an airport on its doorstep.

The Oakland City Council and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved the sale of our training facility built for the Oakland Raiders to the Oakland Roots in partnership with Prologis, expected to close late in 2024. This is a top-class facility as many national teams (including the Mexican, Guatemalan, and Jamaican men’s teams and the Welsh women’s national team) and club teams (including Wrexham and Chivas) have trained there recently. The entire site is nearly 17 acres and includes multiple fields, a 100,000 square foot headquarters building with athletic and office space, a 18,000 square foot performance center, maintenance and storage buildings, and hundreds of parking spots.

The organization received planning commission approval in July 2024 for a proposed 10,000 seat soccer-specific interim stadium to be located on the Malibu lot, adjacent to the Oakland Coliseum. The site is a strong location since it has access to BART, its use is permitted by the Coliseum Area Specific Plan (CASP), and we can activate the site both on game days and non-game days. Roots and Soul would play at the stadium and the plan includes space for hospitality areas, a stage, food and beverage options, and a block party. We still have to finish lease negotiations, prepare the site, raise the required funds, and construct the modular venue.

We have made significant progress in the past year on our ten year plan and we will continue to execute on our core priorities. Grow our youth development program for the next generation of male and female soccer talent. Elevate the Soul into the USL Super League, which has started play as a Division 1 sanctioned league. Improve the health, happiness, and equity in our community. Invest in our facilities to match our vision: we have an agreement and a funding partner to acquire our training facility in late 2024; we have reached agreement to lease the Oakland Coliseum for 2025; we have received planning commission approval for the 10,000+ seat interim stadium at Malibu; and we are exploring sites where we could develop a permanent stadium.

Our Time is Now. Find the right level of investment or perks for you. At the $500 green level and higher you get the official OWNER shirt and at the $1,000 level and above, you get a shirt and dirt from the iconic Coliseum baseball field.

Your investment will help us convert the Coliseum field into a soccer pitch; recruit and retain great players and coaches; deliver programs to youth who lack access to sports; and invest in growing our fanbase to fill the Coliseum. We are investing in the infrastructure to stay in Oakland forever as this is not a decade-long project: we are building a generational institution.

If you're an existing investor from last year's community investment round, you have seen (1) the club's visibility and impact increase, and (2) the club’s valuation increase from 2023 to 2024 by $15M (19%), from $78M to $93M.

As an existing or new investor, you're buying equity and any future returns would come from an increase in the value of the organization. As a professional sports team, it's very, very unlikely that we'll pay out dividends or have excess cash flow to distribute to investors. Why? Because we plan on reinvesting any extra cash into winning on the field, growing the brand, increasing our community impact, and improving the fan experience.

Our 2024 Community Investment Round is open to both existing and new investors. Be a part of this incredible journey and help build a club for Oakland First, Always.

Información en español

2024 CIR Perks

$500+ investors receive this shirt celebrating the move to the Coliseum.

$1,000+ investors receive dirt from the Coliseum + a shirt.

FAQs

FAQs (spanish translation)