BY SUBSCRIBING, YOU ARE AGREEING TO THEUSL PRIVACY POLICY, This website is powered by SportsEngine's, Oakland Roots Sports Club Launch 2023 Jerseys Celebrating The Towns Diversity, Oakland Roots SC Announce 2023 Spanish Broadcast Schedule with TeleXitos, Oakland Roots Sports Club and Common Goal Launch first Switch The Pitch Hub to Teach Anti-Racism in Youth Soccer, Oakland Roots Sports Club Sign Trinidad and Tobago Defender Neveal Hackshaw, Oakland Roots Sports Club Announce Jersey Fundraiser to Support USL United Black Players, Oakland Roots To Throw it Back and Drop 2023 Jersey Live at Oaklandish Downtown Store. By Marcus Thompson II. (Ahead of each home game, the Roots close off two blocks of East 10th Streetthe road that abuts the football stadium at Laneyand fill it with local food trucks, alcohol vendors, graffiti artists, and music.) He said the Roots were welcome to submit a bid, but the club has yet to do so. (LOVE FOOTBALL | HATE RACISM read one particularly memorable statement, billowing at field-level.) Oakland Roots prepped for big season under new head coach Read Less by: Alex Baker. 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. Learn more. Roots Community Health Center leadership believe strongly in fellow community health centers, clinics and private doctors who make up the "Safety Net" in East Oakland. Your donation goes beyond supporting our journalism. [47] Underground rappers Murs and The Grouch performed prior to the team's March 7, 2020 match against Michigan Stars FC.[48]. 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 . Hodul, another product of Oakland, was an elementary school classmate of Nagel, and joined Oakland Roots in 2016. 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. 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.. 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. 306. rem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor inc. 00000 00000000 00000. . 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. This year, during halftime at a Roots home game on October 1, Chapter 510 students will be invited to read parts of the poem aloud to the crowd. Fully entitled corner DOUBLE LOT in an Opportunity Zone in the bustling Bancroft corr. 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. Sign up for The Oaklandsides free daily newsletter. 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. [39], On October 23, 2022, the Roots upset San Diego Loyal 30 in the first round of the playoffs. Oakland Roots Soccer Club President Lindsay Barenz at their training facility, which was the same for the Oakland Raiders in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. In Oakland of late, fans have been subjected almost exclusively to this latter kind of experience. Starter Bakery opens in Oakland | County eviction moratorium expiring in April | Get tickets to Culture Makers, {{#label}}{{label}}: {{/label}}{{message}}. ago. 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. The Roots also support Chapter 510 with financial contributions. More importantly, Arghandiwal and Nagel both possessed a deep, abiding love for their hometown. He marveled that the 250 tickets the team set aside for walk-up sales had been snapped up within minutes. At the Oakland Roots 2022 home opener game the team hosted Monterey Bay FC and the group Grand Nationxl performed. Will McCarthy is a Bay Area News Group reporter who covers Alameda County for the Mercury News and East Bay Times. 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. Oakland, CA. The spirit and the atmosphere is special. Also, a 2023 Calendar for major soccer competitions is included. NFL. Join. But it has served the Roots purposes. Please try again later. Learn more. In the meantime, however, Kaval and Fisher have steadily jacked up ticket prices, slashed budgets, and sacrificed the on-field product and in-game experience: a brazen, unapologetic deprioritization of community partnership in favor of a more unabashedly capitalist conception of what professional sports organizations should do or be. It saw me through 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. Caltrans will turn off the Bay Lights, an art installation on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, on Sunday, perhaps indefinitely. Based in the heart of Oakland at Laney College Stadium, the club sold out its first five home games in club history and welcomed 5,723 fans to its home finale last October. First, Im new to soccer and have never been a huge fan of the sport. Apply Today! Most of the Roots home games sell out, and the crowds they draw contain no small number of former As, Raiders, and Warriors fans. We became passionate about building something that was purpose and impact driven in a city that has through its history been at the forefront of political activism and arts and diversity and culture, Arghandiwal told me. Lynch to bring financial literacy program to Bay Area students. I've had 3 sessions with her and I'm finally the ashy blonde ombre I've been hoping for! Oakland Roots Sports Club have released the 2023 Official USL Championship first and second MEYBA kits featuring Oakland Roots SC's premier partner Anthem Blue Cross as the front of jersey partner . 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. (The Roots ask players to go on a tour as part of their onboarding process.) 15.9K Followers. 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. The Oakland Roots will begin play in August in the . They just loved the design. 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. The Oaklandside relies on reader support to remain free for everyone in our community. [11], Oakland Roots played eight games in their inaugural season: six in NISA and two friendlies against Mexican clubs FC Juarez and Atltico Zacatepec. 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. [52], Oakland Roots has five main supporters groups; Roots Radicals, La Brigada Del Pueblo, Oakland 68s, Homegrown Hooligans, and Los Roots. It also helps your family, friends and Oakland neighbors have access to reliable, independent reporting. "The Function" is a coalition of fans from all five groups. OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Back to the Roots, the nation's fastest growing organic gardening company, has closed a new round of financing to fuel the rapid growth of its line . Heres how that happened. His face was painted with amazement, looking out from the top of the . Being in the bleachers, alongside all the supporters groups, it sort of feels like one big family. . (How Oakland Roots built a community-centric club and took it to the USL, reads the headline of the story published in The Athletic.). Lower-division tends to be a tough draw. Posted: Aug 18, 2022 / 02:49 PM PDT. Back to the Roots Investors (40) Investor Name Investor Type Holding Investor Since Participating Rounds Contact Info; Consumer Ventures: Venture Capital: Minority: 000 0000: . How special, I wonderedhow lively or restorativecould a soccer match possibly be? 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. The first step was deciding on a name. Oakland Roots SC play in second tier of US men's soccer. As part of that process, the old training facility was offered to public agencies and affordable housing developments. When the Oakland Raiders decamped for Las Vegas in 2020, they left behind a state-of-the-art training facility. Get Morning Report and other email newsletters. Specialties: We provide comprehensive primary care and behavioral health services to all members of our community. It extends beyond the Laney College bleachers or even the bars where Roots supporters watch away gamesat least, that is, when theyre not traveling en masse to those away games. When it comes to using sports to do good in the community, Geddes and his team have been wildly, inarguably successful. . "The Function" is in reference to E-40's single, while Roots Radicals is an ode to the East Bay Punk Rock band Rancid. Market value-Paul Blanchette. Email Alerts. According to Geddes, against forces of external pressure, his department functions as a bulwark. The Soul will kick off in the USL W League for the 2023 season.[58]. Oakland Roots Sports Club is an American professional soccer team based in Oakland, California. Your support is powering our newsroom! 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. After ownership dispute, roster turnover, abrupt coaching swap, Oakland Roots ready for USL debut. The goal is to operationalize that commitment. Oakland native Max Ornstil (second from left) is a veteran USL Championship defender, playing . An Oakland native, Lynch, 34, . Its not them just flashing our brand to make them look good, said Heller. Professional sports teams have used and abandoned Oakland. Oakland is scoring a pro soccer franchise with a new lead investor and a tech entrepreneur and an assist from basketball star Damian Lillard.. One of my kids was born in Oakland, the other was born in Auckland. Social Media Coordinator Job at Roots Community Health CenterRoots Community Health Center in Oakland. "We are here to build a community asset," Edreece Arghandiwal, the Roots' co-founder and chief marketing officer, told me recently. Follow him on Twitter @DmoWriter. Several times this year, in a stadium designed to hold twelve times fewer fans, the Roots have even outdrawn the As. The spirit and the atmosphere is special. PHX 3-0 OAK (5/8) LA 3-0 OAK (7/25) 2020-21. 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 . It was cold, and Arghandiwal32, tall, and possessed of an eagle-ish intensity that radiates from his eyes any time he talks about his teamwas bundled in black Roots joggers and a black Roots hoodie, which he had cinched up over a black Roots cap. Joined May 2017. Oakland Roots Sports Club is an American professional soccer team based in Oakland, California. Less than three years into their young life, the Roots are already by some metrics the most popular pro team among Oakland sports fans. 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. Why is it worth caring about a lower-division soccer club like the Roots? 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 two increased their investments substantially, and each soon owned a 31% ownership stake. Detailed. We amplify community voices, share the power of real information, and investigate systems, not just symptoms. First, you arrive, and find as you trundle through the turnstiles something of an impromptu Oakland-centric street fair. Starter Bakery opens in Oakland | County eviction moratorium expiring in April | Get tickets to Culture Makers, {{#label}}{{label}}: {{/label}}{{message}}. 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. Oakland Roots play their football in the National Independent Soccer . They donate training expertise and equipment to the Oakland Parks and Rec Departments Town Camp Program. The club has amassed political capital and assembled a team of high-powered investors, including former Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch. Updated: Feb 2, 2022 / 09:44 PM PST. A donation to The Oaklandside goes beyond the newsroom. For though the Roots reputation as reliable stewards of community partnershipas providers of precisely the kind of utility all cities hope the pro teams they partner with will endeavor to provideis inarguably well-earned, it does not paint a complete picture of who the Roots are, or how they became this way. Company Type For Profit. Planes fly overhead every few minutes, and the fence of the complex backs up to the airports own. I believe I harbor a baseball players subconscious distrust of not being able to use your hands. 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? 0000000000 0 000.00. You must click the link in the email to activate your subscription. Arghandiwal and Nagel invited Geddesalongside Tommy Hodul, whod become the clubs VP of communicationsinto their tribe not long after getting serious about creating a club in Oakland. How did they lose everything? Report: 49ers Robbie Gould says hell be kicking elsewhere in 2023, Kurtenbach: The Warriors experimented with effort during their undefeated homestand. Oakland Roots Sports Club is an American professional soccer team, formed in 2018 and based in Oakland, California. The club created the Oakland Roots Justice Fund is a charitable fund to support racial and gender justice. 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. 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.. 00000 . 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. (Because certainly there has to be a catch.). And that matters here. In 2005, he . [40], Roots home matches are played at Laney College Football Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium located near Lake Merritt. The club was [3][4], Oakland Roots began by signing three Oakland-raised players in the spring of 2019: Devante Dubose, Julio Cervantes and Yohannes Harish. 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 . Oakland, California, United States . When the 16-acre location on Bay Farm island is put up for public auction in July, one of Oaklands last remaining professional sports teams may be out of a home. Previously, he reported in rural Alaska and central Texas, including at KYUK News; Spectrum News 1 Austin; the Austin Chronicle;and, Alaska Public Media. [57] They eventually would forgo the season and start play in 2022. 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 occupy a liminal space in American sports. The Oakland Roots will begin play in August in the . For that, it pays to survey their strugglesalong with the costs and controversies tied to them. The fund was established with donations by the Roots investor group. Today the Roots participate in a dizzying array of philanthropic initiatives and partner with a large and diverse collection of nonprofit organizations. Oakland Roots Sports Club organizes soccer leagues, events, and tournaments, along with providing sports goods and ticketing services. Providing consulting services to real estate developers, investors and related entities. [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. He pointed to Candlestick Park, which was purchased and then demolished, as a prime example. Especially if you work for a for-profit entity, said Geddes. One feels inclined to grope about for a catch. 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. [49] The club joined the Common Goal movement on June 30, 2020, as the first soccer club in the United States to do so. Oakland, CA - Oakland Roots Sports Club, has signed a partnership with Oakland-headquartered consumer technology company, Credit Karma. It could seem silly to invest too seriously in their resuscitative potential. Oakland was one of the first cities to prioritize equity licenses for those like Mr. Blunt, 42, who got teased in high school because his name is a common term for a cannabis cigar. 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. Oakland Roots Sports Club is tackling climate change head-on becoming carbon-neutral as one of the first steps on its journey to sustainability. The club was founded with the purpose of creating positive social change in the . Wednesday, March 30, 6 PM The following year, Greer attended the Roots home opener at Laney. On September 17, 2020, the team announced it would compete in USL League Two beginning with the 2021 season. 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. 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. [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. Theyve trained and educated women and minority coaches to help them get their coaching licenses. One thatll be around for hundreds of years.. Oakland Roots Soccer Club President Lindsay Barenz at their training facility, which was the same for the Oakland Raiders in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. Saturday, March 19, 4 PM At Memphis 901. Contact Email contact@backtotheroots.com. For several hours they fielded questions they didnt necessarily have answers to: where are you going to play? Before I moved (back) to NZ, I lived in Oakland for 4 years. [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. How Oaklands hometown soccer team overcame a slow start and internal strife to build a team with purpose. There is one team in Oakland, however, that appears committed to renewing residents faith in pro sports beneficent potential. Blueface, ALLBLACK & YG) (Official Video)", "Zion I, MADlines, and DONBLAK "Flame Go" (The North Pole Anthem)", "Descending the Pyramid: Oakland Roots Have Yet to Play an Official Match, But They're Quickly Becoming America's Most Exciting Club", "Know yours. For Roots games the pitch is widened using a modular turf system. 102. Supporters Oakland Roots has five main supporters groups; Roots Radicals, La Brigada Del Pueblo, Oakland 68s . We are conditioned, in this society, to just think about one type of value. The Roots are a three-year-old lower-division soccer club. Several lower-division clubs have been started in and around Oakland over the last 20 years. I decided to give Jeannine a shot. He reported for the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and his freelance work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, Texas Monthly and Longreads. Thats why our fundamental value proposition became to be by the community and for the community. Together they recognized how underserved the East Bay soccer scene was. [14] On December 3, 2019, Oakland Roots announced Jordan Ferrell as the club's new head coach.