Oakland Roots will play at Coliseum Saturday despite owing $1.4 million in overdue rent

· Yahoo Sports

The Oakland Roots could be barred from playing future home games at the Oakland Coliseum after missing a deadline to address $1.4 million in overdue rent payments, according to officials with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority.

Alameda County Supervisor and Coliseum Authority Commissioner David Haubert said the soccer club has paid for its game on Saturday, hosting the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

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"I understand they even had upwards of an additional $100,000 of legal fees just to negotiate this year's agreement," said Haubert.

"I'm very disappointed," said Oakland City Councilmember Ken Houston, who serves on the Coliseum JPA Board of Commissioners.

The board says the Roots have been in default on their lease obligations and are $1.4 million behind in rent payments.

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"It was an overreach from the beginning. They should have played at Laney College. It was an overreach," Houston said. "But you are willing to help teams. You are willing to bring this pride to the city with the team because you lost all these teams. So, we want to work with them. We will work with them if they want to work with us."

Last week, the Coliseum Joint Powers Authority rejected a payment plan submitted by the club.

Henry Gardner, executive director of the Coliseum JPA, said the team had already been notified it was in default and given opportunities to resolve the issue.

"The Roots are in default. And they've been served notice that they are in default," Gardner said. "They were given five business days to cure the default and they failed to do that."

"We sent them a subsequent notice a week later, telling us they had until noon today to cure the default," he added.

According to Gardner, the team was presented with two options.

"Pay the $1.4 million, which is past due -- way past due," Gardner said. "Or pay for game-day expenses... and pay $200,000 for each home game going forward."

Gardner said the team did not meet Wednesday's deadline. Whether the Roots will be allowed to play Saturday's match remains was uncertain, but in a social media update, the team said the game was still on.

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds also told ABC7 by email that the club had not been notified of any changes.

Coliseum authority leaders said they are still waiting to hear from the Oakland Roots. A meeting is scheduled for Friday to discuss the matter, while Houston said he is pushing for an emergency meeting Thursday.

The Roots are already scheduled to leave the Coliseum at the end of the season, making the dispute another challenge for a venue that has seen multiple professional teams depart in recent years.

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