San Francisco is one step closer to having a Major League Soccer-affiliated team call Golden Gate Park’s Kezar Stadium home.
The city’s Recreation and Park Department was given the green light by the Board of Supervisors last week to finalize a contract with the newly formed Golden City Football Club’s owners for at least $10 million in renovations of the stadium and a lease for at least 15 years. The club would have three options for extensions of five years each, for a total potential lease of 30 years.
The team was founded this year by co-owners Marc Rohrer — a Wells Fargo financial advisor and former professional German soccer player, according to his LinkedIn profile — and Geoff Oltmans, a managing director at the tech-focused private equity firm Silver Lake Technology Management.
The two were longtime advisors on the Bay Area Development Council, one of several regional councils that are affiliated with the U.S. Soccer Federation and seek to grow the sport by cultivating expansion markets.
The team will compete in MLS’ Next Pro league, which was founded in 2022 and is designed to cap its youth developmental league, MLS Next, to create a pathway to top MLS clubs, which are called “MLS first” teams. The San Jose Earthquakes, for example, are an MLS first team and are the only such team in the Bay Area.
The original Kezar Stadium was built in 1925 and was the original home of the San Francisco 49ers pro football team, which played in the nearly 60,000-seat stadium from 1946 to 1971. It suffered extensive damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and was demolished. The current, smaller version was rebuilt on the site in 1991 and has a capacity of 10,000.
The field will still be used for public, high school and college sports leagues that currently use the field, according to San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office.
A crowded soccer scene
“This announcement is more than just a new team — it represents a new era for San Francisco sports. The new GCFC team will bring new life to Kezar Stadium and the neighborhoods around it, and investments in the stadium will benefit the whole community,” said Lurie.
Renovations to the stadium will include a new natural grass field and irrigation system, new seats and bleachers, a state-of-the-art sound system and scoreboard, accessibility improvements to seating and restrooms, and a new press box and concession area.
“We are incredibly excited and honored to bring professional men’s soccer back to San Francisco and to call the iconic Kezar Stadium our home,” Oltmans and Rohrer said in a joint statement.
The club will begin play within the next two years and will join a busy Bay Area market for professional and developmental league soccer.
Kezar Stadium is already home to the San Francisco City Football Club from the United Soccer League’s League 2. Another USL League 2 team, the San Francisco Glens, plays on Treasure Island. The USL is seeking to expand to Santa Rosa. The Oakland Roots are in USL’s top league.
Meanwhile, San Jose Earthquakes owner John Fisher said last week he planned to sell the team. The team sold the commercial rights to its MLS Next Pro affiliate in 2024, which is now called The Town FC and plays in Moraga.
San Jose got an expansion National Women’s Soccer League team, Bay FC, in 2024.
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