The single-season lease returns the Roots, which plays in the second division of American soccer, to Oakland for the first time since 2022. The team has bounced between local college stadiums for the last few years, most recently at California State University, East Bay. But Barenz expects the Coliseum to be its last stop before opening a long-term stadium in early 2026.
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"The Coliseum deserves pro sports. Oakland deserves pro sports," Barenz said at the stadium Monday.
The Roots' return gives some short-term clarity to the Coliseum's future, which has been in flux as of late. Both Oakland and the Oakland A's, the stadium's current occupants, recently sold their shares of the Coliseum to a local developer in advance of the baseball team's upcoming departure.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said she expects some of the jobs associated with the stadium's operation, in jeopardy because of the A's move, to remain during the Roots' tenure in the stadium.
Ray Bobbitt, who heads the company buying the stadium, said his family once worked some of those jobs, remembering his siblings selling concessions in the Coliseum stands. His own start as an entrepreneur, Bobbitt said, began outside the stadium gates, selling water to thirsty fans or offering umbrellas when the sky turned gray.
"We know that the Coliseum is home to many people when it comes to the jobs, to the vendors," Thao said. "It's mainly the people here that live in Oakland, that work in the Coliseum."
The new field is a welcome change for Roots defender Neveal Hackshaw. He said he sometimes wakes up with stiff knees and sore ankles after playing games on Cal State East Bay's artificial turf field. The change to grass at the Coliseum will provide the team with some relief from those nagging injuries, Hackshaw said.
Hackshaw, who represents Trinidad and Tobago, has played in front of big crowds at international competition. He said he looks forward to playing in front of crowds at the Coliseum, which Barenz said will accommodate roughly 15,000 fans per game along the lower level of the stadium.
"I'm so excited to play here," Hackshaw said. "It's a nice venue for more fans to come, and the field environment is great."
The Roots' lease, which Barenz said will cost about $3 million depending on fan attendance, covers at least 17 home games at the Coliseum for the team, which currently sits in third place in the USL Championship's Western Conference. Then, the team plans to move next door in the spring of 2026.
In February, the Roots agreed with Oakland to buy the Oakland Raiders' old training facility near the Coliseum with an eye towards developing the site into its long-term home. Then, Oakland councilmember Rebecca Kaplan touted the sale as a chance for Oakland to profit off the 2026 World Cup, which will be partially hosted in the United States.
Monday's announcement of the Coliseum lease struck similar chords, with Kaplan again touting the agreement as an investment in the world's largest sport ahead of the World Cup.
"It is an amazing opportunity to build on that excitement, to build on that positivity, to build on that easy transit access," Kaplan said as a train roared past, getting a few laughs.
While the Coliseum will serve as bridge, Barenz said that the club needs a long-term home to get the Oakland Soul, the women counterpart to the Roots, into a professional league. The Soul currently plays as a pre-professional development team, but Barenz said the club has an agreement to join the professional USL Super League once the team has a dedicated stadium.
Barenz said the Roots and Soul will play during opposite halves of the year once the club arrives in the new stadium. That schedule will bring year-round sports back to Oakland, whose three major sports teams have all either left or are in the process of doing so.
"We also know that the Oakland Roots and Soul, they are Oakland," Thao said.