We cleared that all through with the state before we went through this process, Gallegos said. How are you going to ensure this is actually inclusive? 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. Fandom is far less fulfilling when maintaining such faith is impossiblewhen the teams you root for operate not so much like community pillars as commodified playthings, the assets of billionaires who whose loyalties lie not with fans but with shareholders, sponsors, and whatever municipal body hands over the largest amounts of taxpayer money. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News . The club was The blessing was received warmly by a crowd packed tightly into the creatively decorated center. Providing consulting services to real estate developers, investors and related entities. When the Oakland Raiders decamped for Las Vegas in 2020, they left behind a state-of-the-art training facility. We were standing now beside rows of weight-lifting and cardio equipment. Social Media Coordinator Job at Roots Community Health CenterRoots Community Health Center in Oakland. Hodul, another product of Oakland, was an elementary school classmate of Nagel, and joined Oakland Roots in 2016. I look forward to continuing to witness and support the teams positive impact in Oakland., Shes not the only one. Steven Aldrich, a tech executive and Roots lead investor, was all smiles after the first game. [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]. Saturday, March 19, 4 PM At Memphis 901. The crowd included Roots head coach, Juan Guerra. Part three of this series publishes next week. And while I dont think there is, in the end, any sort of catch, what I did find is instructive. [49] The club joined the Common Goal movement on June 30, 2020, as the first soccer club in the United States to do so. Your support is powering our newsroom! Oakland Roots Sports Club is an American professional soccer team based in Oakland, California. We would definitely be interested in making the facility a mid-to-long-term home.. McInerney would score a first half perfect hat trick in a match that would eventually end up in a 33 draw. Their absence has left the Oakland sports scene on life support. The club was formed in 2018 by a group of Oakland natives, . She strongly identified as a lesbian in her youth inviting the unfortunate, yet alliterative nickname "Lindsay the lesbian . If Im being totally honest, I was skeptical about what I would find, buzz about the Roots be damned. Prior to this, the team played two seasons in the third division National Independent Soccer Association . The Soul will kick off in the USL W League for the 2023 season.[58]. (Because certainly there has to be a catch.). Dan Moore is a writer based out of Oakland. Oakland Roots Sports Club is an American professional soccer team based in Oakland, California. At this point the group had little in the way of money. 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. . On their own, the Roots started the Oakland Roots Justice Fund to support campaigns aimed at increasing racial and gender justice. Report: 49ers Robbie Gould says hell be kicking elsewhere in 2023, Kurtenbach: The Warriors experimented with effort during their undefeated homestand. 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.. 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. [10], The club opened the inaugural 201920 NISA season as the league's first game, at home in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 4,500. If the property sellsand city officials are confident it willthe Roots could try to negotiate a lease with the new owners, but theres no guarantee that the new owners will be interested in keeping the site as is. Most of the Roots home games sell out, and the crowds they draw contain no small number of former As, Raiders, and Warriors fans. Geddes seemed not to notice. Its not them just flashing our brand to make them look good, said Heller. [31], Oakland Roots picked up their first USL Championship win on May 23 away at LA Galaxy II when striker Jeremy Bokila scored in stoppage time to give Oakland the 32 win. The Roots are a three-year-old lower-division soccer club. But soon, that arrangement may be ending. Goalkeeper: Paul Blanchette: Apr 16, 1994 (28) 100k -Taylor Bailey. Recently, they extended their lease through 2023. Before I moved (back) to NZ, I lived in Oakland for 4 years. Phone Number (510) 922-9758. At the Oakland Roots 2022 home opener game the team hosted Monterey Bay FC and the group Grand Nationxl performed. Arguably the Roots are doing as much if not more to benefit Oakland as any of the major league teams who once called Oakland home. Thank you. After that first drop, however, investors came callingincluding, importantly, the two men whod given the group that first investment early on, Barney Schauble and Steve Aldrich, the former a principal at Nephila Capital, the latter the former chief product officer of GoDaddy. The Roots are as much a social movement as soccer . Back to the Roots Investors (40) Investor Name Investor Type Holding Investor Since Participating Rounds Contact Info; Consumer Ventures: Venture Capital: Minority: 000 0000: . rem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor inc. 00000 00000000 00000. . Hodul said the facility has been a major boon for the team, which previously trained at Las Positas College in Livermore, a 40-minute drive away. It was clear, though, that Arghandiwal relished his role as an executive, too. [52], Oakland Roots has five main supporters groups; Roots Radicals, La Brigada Del Pueblo, Oakland 68s, Homegrown Hooligans, and Los Roots. 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. 3,629 Number of Organizations $7.9B Total Funding Amount 409 Number of Investors. 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. Hodul emphasized that the club was very grateful to the city and county for making the building available in the first place. The key, as I would learn the next day, when I connected with Arghandiwal for an extended conversation on Zoom, was the fusion of he and Nagels love for Oakland with their belief in the potential of sports to do good. The same inspiration informed the design of their crest, logo, and kits, which, after months of iterationfacilitated over mood boards and with additional guidance from community advisorsfinally materialized in its present form: an oak tree rising proudly from multi-colored soil, the club name draped like a street banner across the trees canopy, imprinted onto which, in a nice flourish, would be the outline of the map of Oakland. They donate training expertise and equipment to the Oakland Parks and Rec Departments Town Camp Program. The teams and experiences who buoyed that reputationthe Raiders and the Black Hole; the Warriors and Roar-acle Arenawere internationally recognizable institutions. Roots merchandise has been featured in two G-Eazy videos West Coast and "Bang". Nagel was well connected in the Bay Area, and had in fact been working to start a new professional soccer club in the East Bay for a handful of months before linking up with Arghandiwal. Squad of Oakland Roots SC Filter by season : Compact. Then they repeated the process at scale. [37], On December 21, 2021, the Roots announced they were leasing the former Oakland Raiders practice facility in Alameda, California as their training facility. Starter Bakery opens in Oakland | County eviction moratorium expiring in April | Get tickets to Culture Makers, {{#label}}{{label}}: {{/label}}{{message}}. 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. A 2017 photo of the . . 00000 . Suddenly the Roots logo was everywhere. The public auction has a minimum starting bid of $36 million. By Marcus Thompson II. ago. [35], The team began a massive turnaround with a 21 win at Merritt College, powered by goals from Ornstil and Harish. 58 As of 2022 000.00. Range . Thank you for supporting The Oaklandside and being a part of our community. The club placed dead last in the USL power ranking in August. Earn $26-$28.85 per hour. The city is letting Alameda County, which could not be reached for comment, oversee the public auction process. 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. They were a driving force to make that happen., Thats just the beginning. And yet, in pursuit of precisely these ambitious ends, the Roots have already proven demonstrably, improbably successful. Two years later, Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, majority owners of the Golden State Warriors, finalized a move from Oakland to San Francisco, and added insult to injury when they tried weaseling their way out of a reported $45 million still owed to Oakland and Alameda County taxpayers on their way over the bridge. [50] The team pledged to donate one percent of the team's payroll and one percent of all future ticket revenue to help address social inequality. 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. Initially in 2017, the USL approved a bid from real estate developer Mark Hall to bring a soccer team to Concord, California instead of Oakland. Credit: Torrey Hart. In 2017, after a protracted battle with the Oakland city councilwhich is still paying off the $223 million in municipal bonds it issued to lure the team back from Los Angeles, after itd abandoned the city for the first timemajority owner of the Oakland Raiders Mark Davis announced hed be moving his still-beloved franchise from Oakland to Las Vegas, where legislators offered him $750 million in public funding to build a sleek new stadium. Beyond serving Oakland as a community asset, the club wants to leave a legacy and one day fill the void left in Oakland by the teams that have all but abandoned it. Led by the concatenation of supporters groups who cram themselves sardine-like into the bleachers southern endwhich groups go individually by the names of La Brigada Del Pueblo, the Homegrown Hooligans, the Roots Radicals, and the Oakland 68s, though they refer to themselves collectively as The Functionthe crowd does not stop singing, chanting, waving flags, or banging on drums all game long. As a result, most Oakland residents have found themselves either disabused of the inclination to believe in their favorite teams, or, conversely, robbed of the ability entirely. USL Championship team Oakland Roots unveil their first and second kits ahead of the upcoming 2023 season - with diversity, community, and inclusion at the forefront of the jersey design. Most fans stand rather than sit, and the stomping of feet against metal fills the pitch with a kind of constant vibrating hum. Oakland, CA - Oakland Roots Sports Club officially announced the launch of Oakland Soul, a Purpose-driven, women's soccer team debuting in the USL W League in 2023. . Nearby food & drink options include Shibe Park Tavern, ROOTS Lounge, and Oracle Arena and Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. [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. 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 Oaklandside relies on reader support to remain free for everyone in our community. Even if it were up for sale, he couldn't afford the house . "The Function" is in reference to E-40's single, while Roots Radicals is an ode to the East Bay Punk Rock band Rancid. Contact Email contact@backtotheroots.com. Recently, they extended their lease through 2023. Overseas pro sports organizations eschew the term franchise, which is popular here in America, because of the sense of corporate rootlessness it connotes. 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. 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. It saw me through Could the Oakland Roots be different? Will McCarthy is a Bay Area News Group reporter who covers Alameda County for the Mercury News and East Bay Times. [17], On April 27, 2020, following an extended stoppage of play due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NISA announced the cancellation of the 2020 spring season. You can feel it in the stands, said Roots diehard Maurice Greer. Because, as she told The Oaklandside in an email, the club supports [Oakland] youth to realize their fullest potential through community programming and healthy outdoor activity., What have the stories about the Roots published in outlets such as The Guardian, The Athletic, and Hypebeast focused on? The spirit and the atmosphere is special. The role of chief purpose officer for the Roots, according to Geddes, was conceived as a means of holding the club more accountable to their initial philanthropic goalsand of ensuring they didnt just talk about doing good or being a community asset, but that they pursued those goals with the same sort of systematic and strategic focus with which the club pursued its on-field ambitions. Women's Team: @oaklandsoulsc. He marveled that the 250 tickets the team set aside for walk-up sales had been snapped up within minutes. (How Oakland Roots built a community-centric club and took it to the USL, reads the headline of the story published in The Athletic.). Theres something special were building here.. Its about the land and what you can do with that land.. Less than three years into their young life, the Roots are already by some metrics the most popular pro team among Oakland sports fans. You must click the link in the email to activate your subscription. Oakland Roots View events: 15/02/23: CLF: Oakland Roots - Central Valley Fuego 26/02/23: CLF: Monterey Bay 02 : 00: Oakland Roots 01/03/23: CLF: Oakland Roots - Sacramento Republic 11/03/23: USC: San Antonio - Oakland Roots The Oakland Roots soccer club was born, in earnest, in the summer of 2016, when Edreece Arghandiwal, a marketing director and entrepreneurial creative type whod worked on projects for brands such as Apple and set designer Susan Linss, met Benno Nagel, a veteran soccer player and coach whod previously worked for clubs in Croatia and the Netherlands. On May 24, 2022, Oakland Roots SC launched their women's team, Oakland Soul. That complex, which is co-owned by the Oakland and Alameda County, has been used for the past two years by the Oakland Roots, the citys newest soccer team. Oakland Roots is a purpose-driven mens soccer team that seeks to harness the magic of Oakland and the power of sports as a social force for good. Im not going to shy away from saying this, Arghandiwal told The Athletic, in 2020. I believe I harbor a baseball players subconscious distrust of not being able to use your hands. Oakland Roots play their football in the National Independent Soccer . The group met with the board ten or so times, discussing, among other things, what Oakland might actually want out of an organization such as theirs. Of course, just about every American professional sports organization claims, in some fashion, that they want to be a force for social good. I want to be the biggest sports club in the world., We knew when we started that the Raiders had left [and] that the Warriors were about to leave, Mike Geddes, the Roots chief purpose officer, told me recently. [1], The club was formed in July 2018, and would be known as Oakland Roots Sports Club. [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 club also helped Common Goal start up its Anti-Racist Project, an initiative that provides anti-racist training for players, coaches, fans, and executives across the American soccer landscape. We amplify community voices, share information resources, and investigate systems, not just symptoms. [15], The Roots opened their second season at home once again in front of a sold-out crowd of 5,603. Such decisions, he said, range from which for-profit vendors the club invites to set up shop on East 10th Street before home games, to which non-profit partners the club decides to collaborate with on an ongoing basis, to what systems should be devised and implemented to ensure the club is operationalizing its commitment to using sport as a vehicle for good. [39], On October 23, 2022, the Roots upset San Diego Loyal 30 in the first round of the playoffs. We acknowledge that the land where Oakland Roots works, trains, and plays sits on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ohlone, more specifically, the Confederated Villages of Lisjan, in the territory of Huchiun, encompassing regions throughout the greater East Bay Area. Why is it worth caring about a lower-division soccer club like the Roots? When the 16-acre location on Bay Farm island is put up for public auction in July, one of Oakland's last remaining professional sports teams may be out of a home. Youth leagues in America are pay-to-pay, Hodul told me. Oakland Roots Sports Club seeks to harness the magic of Oakland and the power of sport as a force for social good. In 2021, Roots will have a bigger platform from which to spread their message. The opportunity right now in women's sports is enormous and I encourage more women to join us in the investor group and help us create more opportunities for girls to . Rapper G-Eazy becomes Oakland Roots investor, goes from Billboard to the owner's box. [30], In April 2021, Marshawn Lynch joined the Roots ownership group. Premiering in spring 2023, the Oakland Soul women's soccer team will serve as an elite pathway to pro soccer, providing a high-quality training environment while empowering players. At an August Oakland Roots game, the East 10th Street pregame function featured food trucks from Oakland vendors. They typically operate with a yes-but model. When it comes to using sports to do good in the community, Geddes and his team have been wildly, inarguably successful. Theyve hosted local youth soccer players at the facility as part of their Project 510 program. Five-time Pro Bowler joins ownership group of Oakland club. One thatll be around for hundreds of years.. We amplify community voices, share the power of real information, and investigate systems, not just symptoms. They dont do this for PR. The club has amassed political capital and assembled a team of high-powered investors, including former Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch. "[51] The fund was established with donations by the Roots investor group. 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. He pointed to Candlestick Park, which was purchased and then demolished, as a prime example. 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. Ingratiating their club into the communitysuch that theyd be seen as truly representative of Oakland, and might in turn earn grassroots supportwas something the Roots founders understood would be crucial to their business model. It hangs dramatically over a thatch of chest hair on his left breast, like a harvest moon rising over an unplowed field in autumn. Please try again later. The Roots first signed their lease at the end of 2021, and the team trained at the otherwise empty facility in 2022. Oakland Roots Sports Club seeks to harness the magic of Oakland and the power of sport as a force for social good. Your donation makes this and all our other local reporting possible. The two increased their investments substantially, and each soon owned a 31% ownership stake. To receive notifications via email, enter your email address and select at least one subscription below. The owners were just there to put more profit in their pocket, he said. The following year, Greer attended the Roots home opener at Laney. Whether on the pitch, in the stands, or within the community, Oakland . Lynch to bring financial literacy program to Bay Area students. Oakland Roots Sports Club is a professional soccer club set to compete in United Soccer Leagues - Championship division (USL-C). 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 . To that end, Roots has formed Roots Community Health Alliance, which aims to preserve and expand these critical points of access to care. After submitting your information, you will receive an email. One feels inclined to grope about for a catch. After playing professionally across North America for more than a decade, Nana became captain of Oakland Roots, a United Soccer League (USL) club and Common Goal member. Wednesday, March 30, 6 PM And that matters here. Dan Moore is a writer based out of Oakland. (LOVE FOOTBALL | HATE RACISM read one particularly memorable statement, billowing at field-level.) We met last month at the Grand Opening of Chapter 510s new Writing Center, on the corner of 9th St. and Clay, at which Oaklands first Poet Laureate, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, gave a blessing. A few feet to our right, a film crew from the local FOX affiliate was filming a segment. [38], On December 30, 2021, the Roots announced Juan Guerra as the club's fourth head coach. Updated: Feb 2, 2022 / 09:44 PM PST. For a . Barenz came to her queer identity later in life. The need was for a team that the community could care about, Geddes said. Caltrans will turn off the Bay Lights, an art installation on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, on Sunday, perhaps indefinitely. The end result was the rendering of a more refined conception of what doing right by Oakland should ultimately look like. After ownership dispute, roster turnover, abrupt coaching swap, Oakland Roots ready for USL debut. "We are here to build a community asset," Edreece Arghandiwal, the Roots' co-founder and chief marketing officer, told me recently. Oakland Roots SC 2022 schedule. This is hardly an exhaustive list. [14] On December 3, 2019, Oakland Roots announced Jordan Ferrell as the club's new head coach. One day at a timeone game at a time. The club supports the Black Liberation Walking Tour, an organization that provides education on the cultural contributions of Black Oaklanders within West Oaklands Hoover-Foster District. With the help of the advisors, the group scheduled a town-hall meeting with a much larger swath of the publicattended by several hundred community members in totalat the CLIF Bar headquarters in Emeryville. If there is any opportunity to enhance the connection between Oakland and soccer, theyll say yes. Why is Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas proud the Roots are based in her district? That excludes kids who arent from privileged backgrounds from participating in the sport.. The move comes after the Roots acquired USL Championship rights from developer Mark Hall, who had planned an 18,000 seat stadium as part of a larger mixed-use development. San Francisco, CA. They just loved the design. One thatll be around for hundreds of years.. One of my kids was born in Oakland, the other was born in Auckland. We all thought, Wow, what better place to deploy such a concept than in Oakland, California?. Rooted in Power - Oakland, the Black Panther Party and Roots SC; By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com 02/24/2023, 8:30am EST ; Jersey in support of Huey P. Newton Foundation provides expression of club's Know Your Roots philosophy; Read More As Oakland city council President Nikki Fortunato Bas told me recently in an email, Im proud the Roots are based in my District. Oakland was once recognized as the greatest sports city in the nation. It also helps your family, friends and Oakland neighbors have access to reliable, independent reporting. The diversity of the crowd, the pride, the energy, he told me. Sign up for The Oaklandsides free daily newsletter. Were journalists for Oakland. Then one day, in the fall of 2019, Greer caught a Roots game on TV. In 2021, the club joined the second division USL Championship. Learn more. One of the founders of Oakland Roots Sports Club is suing the successful startup he helped create. Flower -$30oz non-remediated preground flower (Mystery Muffins, Gastropop, Lion OG) -$70oz (Georgia Pie, Runtz, Gorilla Glue) Featured Deal -2 for $40 Bow House Disposables -3 for $20 200mg Gummies (Shattered Thoughts, PC Pure) -6 for $50 Carts and Concentrates (Bow House, Crude Boys, Drip) -10 for $100 Bow . The Roots logo is almost synonymous with the city of Oakland itself. As we watched over the game, he swayed on his heels with his arms crossed, betraying the impatient sadness of an athlete at rest, preserving energy while silently longing to be on the field. The fund was established with donations by the Roots investor group. Then, in 2019, Oakland Roots began leasing the turf, making this turf parquet floor not only unprecedented in USL play but also playing on it for a couple years in the meantime, meaning the patches are probably pretty worn at this point. SHARE. A donation to The Oaklandside goes beyond the newsroom. Jun 2006 - Mar 20136 years 10 months. The reporters and editors on The Oaklandside are dedicated to sharing the mic, reporting on systems, not symptoms, and providing you with the information you need to be an informed resident of our city. The spirit and the atmosphere is special. Theyre a celebrated and affecting community partner, collaborating with a diverse array of nonprofit organizations all over the city. He hasnt missed a home game since. That complex, which is co-owned by the Oakland and Alameda County, has been used for the past two years by the Oakland Roots, the city's newest soccer team. The reporters and editors on The Oaklandside are dedicated to sharing the mic, reporting on systems, not symptoms, and providing you with the information you need to be an informed resident of our city. I think we had Tommy out there at every First Fridays for a year, Arghandiwal told me. 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. Planes fly overhead every few minutes, and the fence of the complex backs up to the airports own. Weekend Flower and Vape Deals. [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. It makes you feel great as an Oaklander.. 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. Thank you for supporting The Oaklandside and being a part of our community. Now they have access to an NFL-quality training center that is considered one of the very best in their soccer league. 306. Could the Oakland Roots be different? 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. Nagel is a veteran soccer coach who had previously worked for clubs in the U.S., Croatia and the Netherlands . The 2021 Oakland Roots SC season is the club's third season of existence and first in the USL Championship. 2022 . Oakland Roots SC. For Roots games the pitch is widened using a modular turf system.
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