It was a year and a half ago when the Oakland Roots seemed to have made a triumphant return to Oakland, playing in front of a sellout crowd of 26,000 fans in their home opener at the Oakland Coliseum.
However, that one game seems a long time ago, as the Oakland Roots now play regularly in front of around 5,000 fans at a Coliseum that feels much too big for the second-division club.
Last week, it was reported that the Oakland Roots had defaulted on $1.4 million in payments required of the club to play at the Coliseum.
A potential repayment plan was not approved by the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, and its executive director, Henry Gardner, had threatened to prevent the Roots from playing their scheduled home game this Saturday against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.
However, with the intervention of Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert, it appears that the club will at least be able to play its next home game this Saturday at the Coliseum.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Roots pay about $205,000 per match to play at the Coliseum and have a $20,000 food and beverage guarantee as well.
Oakland Roots have already announced they will not play at the Coliseum next year and instead are either looking to build a modular facility at their training facility in Alameda or in a parking lot at the Coliseum complex.
As of now, the Roots have paid enough to the JPA to play this Saturday’s game, according to NBC Bay Area.
“We have paid the fees associated with Saturday in advance and continue to engage with the JPA towards an agreement that allows us to pay off all the debt by the end of the season,” Oakland Roots SC President Lindsay Barenz was quoted by KTVU.
But Alameda County supervisor David Haubert didn’t sound so confident about the team’s chances to finish out the season at the Coliseum.
“I would say if you ever thought about going to a Roots soccer game, now is the time to do it,” said Haubert to NBC Bay Area.
Whatever the reasons for the club’s downturn in fortunes, it’s a sad reminder that the promise of that game in March 2025 now feels so long ago for the team.
