The Oakland Roots soccer club won't be playing its matches at the Oakland Coliseum after this season, meaning the aging stadium will go fully dark in 2027 barring some other interest in the venue.

On Thursday, the Oakland Roots soccer club announced it would be ending its temporary arrangement to play home games at the Oakland Coliseum, as the future of the larger Coliseum complex remains in flux.

The team made the announcement in a release, saying that "The Club is hard at work securing a venue for 2027 and beyond and looks forward to celebrating its final season at the historic Oakland venue."

The Roots have been playing home games at the Coliseum since 2025, along with their sister women's team the Oakland Soul, and they say that they "have come to recognize that the venue will not be a viable option beyond the conclusion of the 2026 season."

"The Oakland Coliseum is a landmark of Oakland and the East Bay, and it has been an honor to be part of its legacy,” says Oakland Roots and Soul SC President Lindsay Barenz, in a statement. “We have long stated that controlling our own venue is paramount to the long-term success of the Club and soccer here in Oakland. While we have loved our time at the Coliseum over these two seasons, it is not a viable ongoing option for us as the relationship is currently structured.”

As KPIX reports, the Oakland Soul, who play in the USL W pre-professional league, have been playing their matches at Merritt Colllege, though they did play one double-header match with the Roots at the Coliseum in June 2025. Both teams had hoped to have a dedicated soccer pitch built on what's called the Malibu parking lot adjacent to the Coliseum, but those plans have since been scrapped as the larger redevelopment of the Coliseum complex has stalled.

And as of June last year, the Roots and Soul team operations have been housed at a former Oakland Raiders training facility at 1150 and 1220 Harbor Bay Parkway in Alameda, at which they now have a 15-year lease.

The Roots' home opener in March 2025 drew a record 26,575 fans to the Coliseum, outdrawing the former Oakland A's, who now just go by The Athletics and play out of a minor-league stadium in Sacramento — as they await completion of a new ballfield in Las Vegas.

The soccer club says it is exploring the possibility of a pop-up soccer pitch on the Coliseum property, in one of the parking lot areas, as it hopes to have a facility "fully controlled by The Club." They are also looking into temporarily hosting matches at the Harbor Bay Parkway location in Alameda.

The oft-mention Howard Terminal site near Jack London Square remains the Roots' best hope for a permanent venue — and it, infamously, was the subject of yearslong negotiations between the A's and the City of Oakland, with the hope of building a new stadium and mixed-use development there. Those negotiations fell apart in 2023, leading to the purchase of a new stadium site in Las Vegas.

Plans for a 25,000-seat stadium at the Howard Terminal site include a first phase in which a modular stadium for 15,000 fans would be built first, per KPIX.

The 112-acre Oakland Coliseum site was previously co-owned by the City of Oakland and Alameda County. Alameda County sold its 50% stake in the property to an entity linked to the A's back in 2019 called Coliseum Way Partners, with that ownership transfer scheduled to happen this year. But now the county is seeking to buy the land back from the A's and sell it to the developer group known as the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG), which has already struck a deal with Oakland to buy the city's half.

Separately, as we learned last month, two entities have submitted bids to purchase the Oakland Arena, which would be spun off from the rest of the complex — with the proceeds being part of the financing plan for AASEG's acquisition of the larger property. So, it's complicated!

The Oakland Roots, hoping to keep some of that World Cup soccer fandom going, have seven regular-season matches remaining at the Coliseum, with the last one scheduled for October 10, along with a fireworks show.

A limited number of $10 unity section tickets are available for the remaining matches, and there's a Coliseum Countdown Pack of tickets on offer for all the remaining home games.

Previously: Oakland Roots Soccer Team's Inaugural Sold-Out Home Opener At Coliseum Breaks Club Record, Outdraws A’s

Top image courtesy of the Oakland Roots and Soul