Last week it was reported that the Oakland Roots would be making the jump from NISA to USL Championship beginning next year. Today, the Club confirmed the rumors on their website.
“We are excited to join the USL Championship in 2021,” said club Chair Steven Aldrich. “Playing in the Championship is a great opportunity for Oakland Roots to continue our journey of using soccer as a force for social good. We can’t wait to showcase the passion, pride, and commitment of our players, fans, and The Town to an even wider audience next year.”
The club will continue to play home games in the heart of Oakland at Laney College Stadium. Roots sold out their first five home games in club history, packing Laney with an average of over 5,000 fans per game with 5,723 on hand for the final home match of 2019 last October.
“Oakland Roots Sports Club is one of the most impressive and purpose-driven organizations in the United States. We are thrilled to welcome them into the Championship,” said USL Chief Executive Officer Alec Papadakis. “When we think about the kind of clubs that can help drive our league forward, we look for committed ownership and fantastic community support. Oakland Roots possess those things in abundance, and we have no doubt they will be a huge success in our league going forward.”
Despite any prestige, there may be with going from tier-three in NISA to tier-two in USLC the move still doesn’t come without some scrutiny that we cannot help but reiterate.
First, Oakland has done an excellent job developing a grassroots identity for itself that you cannot help but wonder what will happen to that independence moving forward? Unlike NISA, USL has a licensing program that encompasses the entire League which can sound good on the surface, but how will this affect the Roots’ affiliation with Oaklandish? Will signing on with USL force Oakland to forego that relationship in favor of some cookie-cutter corporate approach to merchandising?
Second, Oakland’s jump to USL further highlight’s everything wrong with the U.S. soccer system.
I don’t want to beat around the bush, but it’s not like the Roots have been the most successful team on the pitch since their inception back in 2018. Although they’re enjoying some abbreviated success in the NISA Fall season, they went 0-3-3 during the 2019 NISA Fall season and 1-1-0 during the NISA Spring season before shit was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unlike an open system that more so rewards success on the pitch with promotion to higher-tiered leagues, in the United States if you have the money and willingness to sign any success over to bigger league overlords then you’re in.
Sure, USL is a much more stable league than NISA where of which you can see the reasoning behind the move. However, its not like Oakland is ridding themselves of any real longterm problems with USL, if anything they could be adding to them.
