Two Soccer Teams Could Replace A’s at Coliseum

The A’s might leave the city, but sports teams are still eyeing their Oakland Coliseum site as a potential new home. 

The Oakland Roots of the second-division USL Championship are looking at the stadium, where they would be accompanied by the Oakland Soul, a women’s soccer team launched by the Roots that will play in the second-division USL W League starting in 2023. 

• The Roots currently play in a 5,500-capacity stadium in Oakland’s Laney College. 
• They are considering a move to the Coliseum or to a closed naval base in neighboring Alameda.
• The two sites were the only ones the club identified that met its criteria for size, accessibility, potential for community impact, and designation for sports use.

The NFL’s Oakland Raiders also played at the Coliseum before leaving for Las Vegas in 2020. 

Stadiums & Real Estate

| by Owen Poindexter

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Coliseum Competition

While the A’s are planning to move to either Oakland’s Howard Terminal or to Las Vegas, the Roots are not the only team interested in their current home.

In November 2021, Oakland granted exclusive negotiating rights to the African American Sports & Entertainment Group to lease or purchase the 130-acre site, which also includes the Oakland Arena, where the Golden State Warriors played until moving to San Francisco in 2019.

The group is potentially willing to work with the Roots and Soul but has also discussed bringing a WNBA team and separate women’s soccer team to the site.