We believed the people would respond positively to that.. Oakland Roots Sports Club is a professional soccer club set to compete in United Soccer Leagues - Championship division (USL-C). This is hardly an exhaustive list. For Roots games the pitch is widened using a modular turf system. OAKLAND Despite staunch protests from students, parents and teachers over the past few months, the Oakland Unified school board voted Monday to close middle school Roots International Academy . 306. The following year, Greer attended the Roots home opener at Laney. Oakland, California, United States . Oakland Roots Sports Club Announce Women's Team, Oakland Soul They donate training expertise and equipment to the Oakland Parks and Rec Departments Town Camp Program. And while I dont think there is, in the end, any sort of catch, what I did find is instructive. The role of a chief purpose officer is to ensure that purpose is the lens through which every decision is made, Geddes told me in the Roots practice facility. The Roots are not community-ownedownership is split between the founders and investorsbut they very much see themselves as accountable to Oakland in a similarly elemental way. The Roots lost 2-1, but played valiantly. NFL: Marshawn Lynch joins USL's Oakland Roots ownership - Yahoo Sports The need was for a team that the community could care about, Geddes said. My job is to work across every single department in the organization, whether its our technical team or our marketing team, or our operations team, and help them think about how that purpose shows up in every decision they make.. The club has amassed political capital and assembled a team of high-powered investors, including former Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch. The two were acquainted through the blooming East Bay semi-pro soccer community; at one point, Arghandiwal was playing for a semi-pro team called the Oakland Leopards, which Nagel was also involved with. Company Type For Profit. Im not going to shy away from saying this, Arghandiwal told The Athletic, in 2020. [22][23], On September 15, 2020, the team announced they would be moving from the third-division NISA to the second-division USL Championship.[24]. General Manager for Advent's Data Services business, a $50 million business line comprising custodial data, market data, corporate . [15], The Roots opened their second season at home once again in front of a sold-out crowd of 5,603. [53], The Oakland Roots reserve team, Project 51O, was launched on December 9, 2019. Even if it were up for sale, he couldn't afford the house . (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News . Jun 2006 - Mar 20136 years 10 months. We do our best . Theyre a celebrated and affecting community partner, collaborating with a diverse array of nonprofit organizations all over the city. He marveled that the 250 tickets the team set aside for walk-up sales had been snapped up within minutes. Oakland Roots prepped for big season under new head coach Its love out there, man, said Steve Murakami, a co-founder of the Homegrown Hooligans, with whom I spoke on the phone the next day. Then, in collaboration with local retailer Oaklandish, the group dropped the merch, and thats when everything changed. In 2021, the club joined the second division USL Championship. Its led to our ability to get higher-profile players, without question, Hodul said. Oakland Roots soccer team may be left with no home to train in [29] This was followed by the early December signings of Oakland raised Max Ornstil and re-signings of Yohannes Harish and Tarn Weir, as well as many others. The answer, turns out, is roughly as lively as a rock concert, and about as restorative as a kind of summer cookout held at a beloved community gathering place, and attended by seemingly everybody in town. Lindsay Barenz went from the White House to pro soccer - Outsports Indeed, if it is possible to believe that the Oakland Roots could well define a new, more symbiotic and more fulfilling future of professional sports in Oaklandone in which the previously predatory paradigm is flipped to look something more like a healthier, more mutually beneficial partnership between city and teamit is partly because of the tough choices the club has had to make, the adversity its weathered, and the controversy its overcome. Oakland Roots, with assist from Damian Lillard, look to launch another Last March, Oakland city councilmember and Mayoral candidate Loren Taylor went so far as to author a resolution to Recognize the Oakland Roots Sports Club for its many contributions to the City of Oakland and its dedication and commitment to the city. When I asked him to elaborate he told me, They show up consistently across Oakland and partner with a diverse cross-section of nonprofit organizations throughout the city, from East to West and from flatlands to hills. Oakland Roots SC. 2022 . Updated: Feb 2, 2022 / 09:44 PM PST. Barenz came to her queer identity later in life. Its not them just flashing our brand to make them look good, said Heller. This punched their ticket to play San Antonio, where they lost 30. I think we had Tommy out there at every First Fridays for a year, Arghandiwal told me. When the Oakland Raiders decamped for Las Vegas in 2020, they left behind a state-of-the-art training facility. Less than three years into their young life, the Roots are already by some metrics the most popular pro team among Oakland sports fans. Oakland, CA - September 16, 2021 - Oakland Roots SC today announced their commitment to be among the first professional soccer teams in the world to become climate positive. [18][19], In the abridged 2020 fall regular season, Oakland finished first in the three team Western Conference with Matthew Fondy leading the team with two goals. Current Topics | Roots Community Health Center Something went wrong. . Oakland Roots Draw Big Crowds, Show Town Pride - East Bay Express Oakland is scoring a pro soccer franchise with a new lead investor and a tech entrepreneur and an assist from basketball star Damian Lillard.. Hed invited me to a free coaching clinic the Roots were putting on at their practice facilitythe former Raiders headquartersin Alameda. Those players included former San Jose native and MLS player Benji Joya, former Honduran World Cup veteran and San Jose Earthquake Victor Bernardez and former first-round MLS draft pick Jack McInerney. A few feet to our right, a film crew from the local FOX affiliate was filming a segment. Parks near 1426 71St Ave include . The As are reportedly spending $2 million a month to secure approval to move forward with their real estate ambitions. The two increased their investments substantially, and each soon owned a 31% ownership stake. For Oakland Roots the decision to join Common Goal is one that comes out of an ethos that the club strives to live up to each and every day. But these organizations often keep their community engagement effortsthe means by which they do the most tangible good in the cities they call homeisolated from the rest of their operations, and attend to them as a definitively tertiary concern: a box that needs to be checked. But the process forced the young men to think strategically about their model. Were journalists for Oakland. Oakland Roots Soccer Club announces abrupt coaching change - KRON4 First, you arrive, and find as you trundle through the turnstiles something of an impromptu Oakland-centric street fair. Arghandiwal and Nagel saw an opportunity to build an organization that could meet the growing demand. When it comes to using sports to do good in the community, Geddes and his team have been wildly, inarguably successful. Oakland Roots Sports Club is an American professional soccer team based in Oakland, California. It was difficult, said Arghandiwal. PHX 3-0 OAK (5/8) LA 3-0 OAK (7/25) 2020-21. What can we do?. One thatll be around for hundreds of years.. Your donation makes this and all our other local reporting possible. The designs went viral, selling out, and creating a local sensation. And that matters here. Follow him on Twitter @DmoWriter. Saturday, March 26, 7 PM Against Monterey Bay. Then its gametime, and everyone transitions the bleachers, which, by kickoff, are packed and rollicking. The training facility, located at 1150 Harbor Bay Parkway, was originally constructed in 1995 to entice the Raiders to return to Oakland from Los Angeles. Oakland Roots SC play in second tier of US men's soccer. Thats why our fundamental value proposition became to be by the community and for the community. Fun fact. His face was painted with amazement, looking out from the top of the . As Oakland city council President Nikki Fortunato Bas told me recently in an email, Im proud the Roots are based in my District. Former NFL star Marshawn Lynch has joined the ownership group of the Oakland Roots of the USL Championship. Professional sports teams have used and abandoned Oakland. Lynch to bring financial literacy program to Bay Area students. Credit Karma helps more than 120 million members globally connect their spending, saving and borrowing to optimize their finances and help them reach their financial goals. And what it had to look like, Arghandiwal said, was an organization committed earnestly to being about the Town in an authentic way., We believed, Arghandiwal told me, That as long as we showed the community real authentic love, they would love us back.. Soon, the club had an online database consisting of thousands of names and email addresses, all eager to follow the Roots on their journey from concept to competition. The Oakland Roots will begin play in August in the . The club stated the fund would support new and existing initiatives by the Roots and community partners to "support causes at the intersection of racial and gender justice. It was clear, though, that Arghandiwal relished his role as an executive, too. In 2020 the Bay Area club joined Common Goal's Anti-Racist Project a collective initiative tackling racism across every aspect of football in North America, including the . The Roots logo is almost synonymous with the city of Oakland itself. In November 2020, Oakland Roots announced the signing of Oakland born, Richmond, California raised midfielder Saalih Muhammad via a transfer from New Mexico United as the club's first USL Championship player. Oakland Roots SC 2022 schedule. You must click the link in the email to activate your subscription. The Roots are paving the way, she told me. After submitting your information, you will receive an email. Professional sports teams have used and abandoned Oakland. Into that infrastructure, the club made a number of key investments. How the Oakland Roots built a team for a 'fiercely proud' city [25][26] The team, called USL East Bay, planned to play in a 15,000+ seat soccer-specific stadium complex before the development idea was scrapped in May 2020. Oakland, CA - Oakland Roots Sports Club, has signed a partnership with Oakland-headquartered consumer technology company, Credit Karma. (LOVE FOOTBALL | HATE RACISM read one particularly memorable statement, billowing at field-level.) [16] The Roots followed this up by winning their first-ever NISA league match the following weekend vs Michigan Stars FC 21. How are you going to ensure this is actually inclusive? Hodul emphasized that the club was very grateful to the city and county for making the building available in the first place. In June 2020, the Roots became the first professional sports organization in America to join Common Goal, an organization which supports non-profits working to combat gender inequality and systemic racism, and to whom every year the Roots donate 1% of participating player and staff wages, alongside 1% of all ticket revenues. McInerney would score a first half perfect hat trick in a match that would eventually end up in a 33 draw. Though nothing excites the crowd quite like a goal, which, on the night of the Loudon match, the Roots scored four of, en route to their first win of the season. formed in 2018 by a group of Oakland natives, and began play in the National Independent Soccer Association in the fall of 2019. Theyve risen to a level of cultural and communal prominence rare for its sport and remarkable for its rapidity. Back to the Roots Company Profile: Valuation & Investors | PitchBook (Because certainly there has to be a catch.). How Oaklands hometown soccer team overcame a slow start and internal strife to build a team with purpose. [49] The club joined the Common Goal movement on June 30, 2020, as the first soccer club in the United States to do so. An Oakland native, Lynch, 34, . Its about the land and what you can do with that land.. The club picked up their first win at home against Atltico Zacatepec by a score of 20. [2] The club originally was slated to play in the NPSL Founders Cup, but the club ultimately withdrew and instead joined the National Independent Soccer Association, a Division III sanctioned United States Soccer Federation professional league. I've been coming to Mio since late 2013, but I was hesistent to make an appointment this year in Feb after an orangey ombre balayage I received in 2014. We have a notable addition to the 2021 USL Championship lineup, as established side Oakland Roots will be joining the league after making the leap from third division NISA.. Tale of two Roots? Oakland Roots founder files lawsuit against the team Larry Gallegos, a program manager with Oaklands office of economic and workforce development, said the city went through Californias Surplus Lands Act process prior to planning the auction. A 2017 photo of the . But we believe Oakland deserves great sports teams. Recently, they extended their lease through 2023. Oakland native Max Ornstil (second from left) is a veteran USL Championship defender, playing . Arghandiwal told me this during the Roots match against Loudon that Id attended, down on the field behind the visitors goal. One example is the world of European soccer, where the first clubs were set up by churches or minority groups to represent a class or interest, town or region, [or] even a political affiliation [or] religion, and where the sport is to this day regarded as more than entertainment but, rather, as something communal, or even tribalas London-based Atlantic staff writer Tom McTague has written. Next came the task of building a brand. On their own, the Roots started the Oakland Roots Justice Fund to support campaigns aimed at increasing racial and gender justice. 1426 71St Ave, Oakland, CA 94621 | MLS# 41016637 | Redfin Oakland Roots play their football in the National Independent Soccer . In a civil complaint filed in Alameda County Superior Court on Thursday, former club president Benno Nagel outlined the circumstances that led to the Oct. 23 board meeting in which he alleges the club's other primary owners unjustly removed him . Even the DeltasSan Franciscos former Division II soccer teamfolded after just one season, in 2017, due to a lack of fan support, even though just that year theyd won their leagues championship. Its not gimmicky, its real, she said. Oakland Roots Sports Club seeks to harness the magic of Oakland and the power of sport as a force for social good. If the Raiders ever left, the condition was that ownership of the property would revert back to Oakland and the county. Founded in July 2018 by six local soccer fans and investors, Roots has quickly grown into a cultural phenomenon in the United States soccer scene. After getting special permission from USL officials, the Roots played Austin Bold FC to a scoreless draw in front of no fans at Las Positas on June 26. [11], Oakland Roots played eight games in their inaugural season: six in NISA and two friendlies against Mexican clubs FC Juarez and Atltico Zacatepec. The Oakland Roots soccer club was born, in earnest, in the summer of 2016, when Edreece Arghandiwal, a marketing director and entrepreneurial creative type who'd worked on projects for brands such as Apple and set designer Susan Linss, met Benno Nagel, a veteran soccer player and coach who'd previously worked for clubs in Croatia and the Netherlands. How special, I wonderedhow lively or restorativecould a soccer match possibly be? Lydia Tan - Chief Real Estate Officer - Oakland Roots Sports Club [52], Oakland Roots has five main supporters groups; Roots Radicals, La Brigada Del Pueblo, Oakland 68s, Homegrown Hooligans, and Los Roots. More pertinently, Id spent the better part of the last two years documenting the depressed state of Oakland sports, and I was sensitive to how much damage the scene had incurredand dubious about the potential of any upstart team to revive it, even one with lots of good press. The board included Joanne da Luz, Co-Founder of My Yute Soccer; Keith Williams, who founded the skate park at DeFremery Park; and Ben Gucciardi, who heads up Soccer Without Borders. Oakland, CA. One question remained, though: how to do it right? Oakland Roots Sports Club Scores Hat-Trick with the UserTesting Human One night in April, I went with my wife to go see the Roots play Virginias Loudon United at Laney College, which serves as the Roots home field. The clubs crestan Oak tree rising like a clenched fist out of stained-glass soilhas become ubiquitous, spottable everywhere, from stickers affixed to light posts along Lake Merritt to the chests of such high-profile stewards as Portland Trail Blazers point guard (and East Oakland native) Damian Lillard and Hamilton star Daveed Diggs. Rap superstar G-Eazy teams up with Oakland Roots soccer club as investor After the auction, 50 percent of the sale will return to Oakland, and the city council will be tasked with determining how to use it. Most of the Roots home games sell out, and the crowds they draw contain no small number of former As, Raiders, and Warriors fans. [OC] Since we are 1 day away from the first official match of the year, I made an "Ultimate MLS Sheets" including data about all competitions that involve MLS teams (MLS Cup, USOC, CCL, Leagues Cup & more). The crowd included Roots head coach, Juan Guerra. 1 mo. [39], On October 23, 2022, the Roots upset San Diego Loyal 30 in the first round of the playoffs. It makes you feel great as an Oaklander.. investors@roots.com; 1-844-762-2343; Social Media. They started Project 510, which functions as something of a player development system through which the club can both recruit local soccer players as well as provide Oakland youth a more egalitarian pathway to opportunities within the soccer world beyond. On May 24, 2022, Oakland Roots SC launched their women's team, Oakland Soul. Halsey Ward en LinkedIn: #honocoinsights #purposedriven #oaklandroots San Francisco Bay Bridge Lights Go Out Indefinitely on March 5 It makes you feel great as an Oaklander.. [40], Roots home matches are played at Laney College Football Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium located near Lake Merritt. He said the Roots were welcome to submit a bid, but the club has yet to do so. Phone Number (510) 922-9758. The Roots first signed their lease at the end of 2021, and the team trained at the otherwise empty facility in 2022. Oakland Roots prepped for big season under new head coach Read Less by: Alex Baker. Whether on the pitch, in the stands, or within the community, Oakland Roots will . San Francisco, CA. For a long time [Nagel] and I were just chopping like, Hey, how can we take a club like the Leopards up to a different level? Arghandiwal told me. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Info stolen in Oakland ransomware attack set to be released, Map: Track this weekends rain in the Bay Area, Alameda County auction may leave one of Oaklands last pro teams without a home, San Jose apartment project site faces loan default, Winds shred tarp, leave historic San Jose building exposed to elements, Bay Area hotel market wobbles in San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Downtown San Jose housing tower edges close to construction start, Hundreds of homes could sprout at San Jose domed movie sites. Email Alerts. Were working towards other training facility options, but nothing is concrete, Roots spokesperson Tommy Hodul said. You walk around, sampling local beer, watching parents struggle and ultimately fail to corral kids screaming joyously about in Roots scarves and kits, all while young people representing damn close to every one of Oaklands various cultural, economic, and denominational pockets mingle, drink, eat, and chat. He also used to attend at least 50-55 As games a year. But after the Raiders left, and after growing tired of the As obstinate frugality, Greer told me that he couldnt stomach supporting either team any longer. According to Geddes, against forces of external pressure, his department functions as a bulwark. And the sense among at least some of those fans is that the Roots are already a serviceable alternative to the Towns formerly beloved major league squads. About Oakland Roots SC. Banners the size of small billboards are unfurled and lashed to rails. Much of the initial excitement, in fact, came from people who werent even aware the shirts, hoodies, and jackets they were buying or sharing on social media were affiliated with an upstart soccer club. Of course, just about every American professional sports organization claims, in some fashion, that they want to be a force for social good. The city is letting Alameda County, which could not be reached for comment, oversee the public auction process. Will McCarthy is a Bay Area News Group reporter who covers Alameda County for the Mercury News and East Bay Times. John Fisher and Dave Kaval, meanwhilemajority owner and team president of the Oakland Athleticsare currently in the process of cajoling Oaklands city council into forking over hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds so they can build a $12 billion stadium-anchored real estate development on the West Oakland waterfront. Being in the bleachers, alongside all the supporters groups, it sort of feels like one big family.