In today’s Sunday Merc News, there is an article on the Oakland African-American group that has some agreement with the City to develop the Coliseum site. They failed to get Fisher to agree to sell, and to add to their problems, 2 of the 8 co-founders are now suing the other co-founders. At the very end of the article, they mentioned that the group as a whole was not supportive of the Roots plan to build a stadium.
Tyson Ross Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club welcomes MLB All-Star and Oakland raised @TysonRoss to the ownership group. The Community Investment Round closes tomorrow, October 31st, at 8:59 PM PT. Don’t miss out!Invest Now: https://t.co/G3q4IIQZbA#OaklandFirstAlways pic.twitter.com/aDlypknxIk— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) October 31, 2023 Antonio Davis Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club welcomes NBA All-Star and Oakland born Antonio Davis to the ownership group. Happy Birthday, Antonio!The Community Investment Round closes tonight, October 31st, at 8:59 PM PT. Don’t miss out!Invest Now: https://t.co/G3q4IIQZbA… pic.twitter.com/wb2RHtVslv— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) October 31, 2023 A word from new owner, Antonio Davis.The Community Investment Round closes tonight, October 31st, at 8:59 PM PT.Invest Now: https://t.co/G3q4IIQZbA#OaklandFirstAlways pic.twitter.com/LaB1JTB9dM— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) October 31, 2023 Calen Carr Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club welcomes US Open Cup Champion and Oakland born @CalenCarr to the ownership group.The Community Investment Round closes tonight, October 31st, at 8:59 PM PT.Invest Now: https://t.co/G3q4IIQZbA#OaklandFirstAlways pic.twitter.com/X8CGa8Ulok— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) October 31, 2023
Gary Payton II Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club welcomes @Garydwayne to the ownership group. Welcome to the Club, GPII.The Community Investment Round closes tonight, October 31st, at 8:59 PM PT.Invest Now: https://t.co/G3q4IIQrm2#OaklandFirstAlways pic.twitter.com/KRds2q8wBr— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) October 31, 2023 $3 million $3,000,000 raised. 5,000+ new owners.The historic Community Investment Round ends in less than 5 hours. Don’t miss out!Invest Now: https://t.co/G3q4IIQZbA#OaklandFirstAlways pic.twitter.com/00zGxfdbfq— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) October 31, 2023
Reading the FAQ section it appears they had $10 million in operating losses last year and are not sure they will ever be profitable.
The number has rised.... Around USL: Roots and Soul raise more than $3 million • The Oakland Roots (USL Championship) and Soul (W-League) closed their community investment round campaign with 5,434 new owners investing a combined $3,167,523 into the club.
Just saw this news. Not sure if this should be interpreted as 1) a sign that additional soccer leagues have become an increasingly desirable business option for networks, or 2) that ESPN is shedding sports as it continues to struggle with how to move beyond its outdated business model of forcing traditional cable providers to pay egregious subscription fees that are born by all subscribers, even those who never watch sports. I'm not sure how it will impact the day-to-day economics of the local USL clubs. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/nov/07/usl-broacast-deal-cbs-espn-mls
Watching USL is kind of boring. It's better than college soccer skillfully but depending on the school, some NCAA crowds can be pretty fun and exciting.
It is kind of amazing how little soccer there is to watch on ESPN+ and FOX nowadays. I haven't followed the biz articles enough to understand wht is going on with soccer streaming nowadays, but it does feel like CBS (Peacock) and NBC (Paramount+) have picked all the soccer fruit. HBO / Max have USSoccer, but that's more like an embarrassment.
On ESPN+ I watched several FA Cup round 1 games over the weekend, as well as Bayern Munich vs. Dortmund. Plenty of Bundesliga there, and you can also watch La Liga and the Dutch and Belgium leagues. There is plenty to watch there if those are the leagues you are interested in.
I have CBS (Paramount+) I get to watch a lot of soccer but also get to see other shows as well. I've hardly ever watched Frasier when it was on but already saw the first two episodes of the New Version.
Ya know, when ESPN+ lost MLS and the price went from something like $7 to $11, we just couldn’t see paying for it anymore. We had to start budgeting somewhere…
Right, I’m talking about 1 year ago, when there wasn’t enough soccer that we wanted to watch, and now as mentioned, they won’t even have USL to kick around anymore.
Downgrade you season tickets at PPP from section 106 to 105/107. That will save you a couple thousand right there.
There's almost no soccer on ESPN+ anymore, just: Bundesliga, La Liga, Championship, Eredivisie, Belgian Pro League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, DFB Pokal, Copa del Rey, and college soccer Oh and it looks like the majority of USL games will still be on ESPN+, the new CBS/Paramount+ deal is only for like a hundred games a year.
None of the first paragraph is soccer that we want to watch… but interesting that ESPN+ will have some USL matches.
“Bay FC Acquires Its First Player, Former NCAA Champion and Honda Player of the Year Defender Alex Loera” (BayFC.com - Wednesday, 11/15/23) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Oakland Roots/Soul at the Oakland Coliseum in 2025? Pres. Barenz confirmed interest today: "Oakland Roots & Soul are very interested in serving as an anchor tenant of the Coliseum in 2025 while we continue to pursue construction of a modular stadium at the Malibu site." Major.— Jonathan Comeaux (@Jonathan_Como) November 28, 2023
We reupped our season Forward Madison FC tickets for next year and Milwaukee's getting a USL championship team, so I'll be watching USL on ESPN+, too.