Years After A’s Deal Died, Port of Oakland Looks to Soccer Club for Waterfront Stadium

The Port of Oakland once again has its eyes on a new waterfront sports stadium, years after the Athletics walked away from a deal to build a 35,000-seat ballpark.

In letters sent to developers this week, the port authority wrote that it plans to pursue two deals to transform Howard Terminal, including one with the Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club to build a permanent soccer stadium.

Port officials plan to recommend that the board enter into exclusive negotiations with the team and Industrial Realty Group to develop the 50-acre site.

“We’re excited to work with the Port of Oakland on next steps toward negotiating an exclusive negotiation agreement to explore redevelopment opportunities at Howard Terminal for a stadium for Oakland Roots and Soul SC,” Lydia Tan, the club’s chief real estate officer, said. “This would be an important step in evaluating a long-term home for the club.”

Since the port relocated container operations away from Howard Terminal more than a decade ago, it’s mostly been used for storage and other short-term operations.

Those plans aim to reinvigorate East Oakland after the Warriors, Raiders and Athletics all moved out of the city in recent years.

AASEG has said it plans to develop housing, retail and green space and is open to another professional sports team moving into the Oakland Arena, where the Warriors played before departing in 2019.

Before announcing they would move to West Sacramento, and eventually Las Vegas, the then-Oakland A’s had eyed the Howard Terminal land for a new ballpark and mixed-use development.

The team entered into its own exclusive negotiation agreement with the port in 2018, and had announced plans for the billion-dollar stadium and upwards of 3,000 residential units, a 400-room hotel and other commercial space in the surrounding area.

After the city ceased negotiations with the Athletics in 2023, following the team’s announcement of a Las Vegas ballpark, the port put out a request for new “active economic development” proposals for the land.

Over the last year, it’s whittled down potential partners from nearly a dozen to the remaining two. The site would be split into two connected projects: a larger industrial development led by Industrial Realty Group, and a smaller stadium for the Roots and Soul.

The club has been looking to build a permanent stadium since its founding in 2018. The Roots, a men’s team in the USL Championship league, played at Laney College and Cal State East Bay before moving into the Oakland Coliseum on a short-term basis in 2025.

The Soul, a women’s team that plans to join the USL Super League, has played three seasons at Merritt College.

The club had previously entered negotiations with the city to build a temporary modular stadium at the Coliseum’s adjacent Malibu parking lot, but it tabled those plans last January.

In December 2024, the Roots announced that they would propose a two-phase plan for the Howard Terminal land: first building a modular stadium that could fit 15,000 fans on a shorter timeline, similar to its proposal for the Malibu lot, followed by a more “substantial structure” with a larger capacity.

Details on Industrial Realty Group’s plans for the space aren’t known, but whatever development it pursues won’t be allowed to include housing or other uses that could affect the maritime activities in the Oakland seaport.

The port doesn’t yet have a timeline for putting the recommendation before its board, and entering into the negotiations doesn’t guarantee that the development will come to fruition.