Ava Community Energy Marketing, Regulatory and Legislative Subcommittee
December 20, 2024

2025 Oakland Roots &
Oakland Soul Sponsorship
Proposal
MRL Subcommittee Meeting
December 20, 2024
2 Why Ava Sponsors Teams
Why Do Sports Sponsorships
• Increase brand awareness
• Inform customers about Ava services and
programs through engaging activations
• Create brand luster by association with
community events
• Meet our customers where they are (they
might not be online)
• Boost in employee engagement and morale
• Strengthen local partnerships and alliances
Benefits of Ava’s sponsorships have included a mix
of:
• Booth activation at games
• Field signage
• Game tickets for Ava staff, also used as
social media contest prizes, given to
non-profit partners, etc.
• Social media posts about Ava by teams
• Game night including swag handout
• Player access/appearance
• Clock wrap and streaming ads on
broadcasts
• PA announcements during games
• Ava’s logo on the team jersey
3 Ava History of Sports Sponsorship
Ava has sponsored:
• Oakland Roots men’s professional soccer team
since its inception in 2018
• Oakland Soul women's professional soccer team
since its inception in 2023
• Pleasanton RAGE women’s professional soccer
team since 2023
• Oakland Ballers minor league baseball team
since its inception in 2024
4 About Oakland Roots Soccer
Club (ORSC)
Oakland Roots
• Founded in 2018 (the same year Ava launched
service) as a men’s team
• Played their first season in 2019 in National
Independent Soccer Association, a Division III
league
• In 2021 they moved up to the Division II USL
Championship league (top league is MLS)
• They play 34 games per year, and have played at
Laney College (2019-2022), and Cal State East
Bay (2023-2024)
• Will play next year at the Oakland Coliseum
Oakland Soul
• Launched in 2023 as a women’s team in the
USL-W league (top league is NWSL)
• Soul played at Merritt college in 2023 and 2024
• They will play at the Oakland Coliseum in 2025
• They play 12 games per season (6 at home)
ORSC plans to build a new stadium in the Malibu
parking lot just south of Oakland Coliseum
5 Ava’s Sponsorship of ORSC
Sponsorship history:
• 2019 - $25,000
• 2020 - $25,000
• 2021 - $125,000 (moved up to USL)
• 2022 - $125,000
• 2023 - $125,000 (plus $10k for soul)
• 2024 - $196,000 ($150k Roots/ $46k Soul),
first time with our logo on the jerseys
2024 Sponsorship Package
• Booth activation at games (average
attendance 3,902 mens)
• Field signage
• Season tix available for Ava staff usage,
give-aways
• Social media posts by teams about Ava
• Clock wrap and streaming ads
• PA announcements
• Back of jersey logo (players and fans)
6 2024 Assets
Booth with Ava staff Branded backdrop for photos
Clean & Green night
Branded scoreboard
Social media
Field signage
7 2025 Proposed Sponsorship
• OFFICIAL PARTNER + IP RIGHTS
• PARTNER PAGES WITH LOGO LINK
• PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT
• BACK OF JERSEY
• MEDIA BACKDROP
• SOCIAL MEDIA “POWER” SERIES
• COLISEUM VIDEO BOARD + LED RIBBON
• FIELD BOARDS
• GAME DAY ACTIVATIONS + TICKETS
• PA ANNOUNCEMENTS DURING GAME
• DRONE LIGHT SHOW TITLE NIGHT
• UPCYCLED FASHION COMPETITION
• PRE-POST FAN SURVEY
Analysis
● Lower price point than last year’s
sponsorship
● Upside potential of more fans at games
○ BART-accessible stadium
○ More seats (audience not limited by
small stadium size)
● Larger stadium means better branding
opportunity on large stadium screens
● Focus on in-game assets. We removed the
streaming clock wrap and video ads - we
think these have more value for a national
brand
$141,000 Roots
$ 34,000 Soul
$175,000 total
8 Next Steps
• Answer questions and solicit feedback from MRL
subcommittee today about the proposed ORSC
proposal
• Request Board approval at the January meeting
• If approved by Board, negotiate contract for 2025
season