{"id":173930,"date":"2026-02-11T20:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T20:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/173930\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T20:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T20:31:11","slug":"the-athletic-club-oakland-shuts-down-after-closing-its-sf-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/173930\/","title":{"rendered":"The Athletic Club Oakland shuts down, after closing its SF location"},"content":{"rendered":"

A well-known Oakland<\/a> sports bar is throwing in the towel after eight years of business. In a cruel twist, the last day was the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

The Athletic Club Oakland<\/a>, located at 59 Grand Ave. near Lake Merritt, shared the \u201cvery sad news\u201d this Sunday on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry we couldn\u2019t keep it going longer \u2014 god knows we\u2019ve tried,\u201d said co-owner Miles Palliser. \u201cThank you for everything you\u2019ve done for us; it\u2019s been a wonderful ride. We\u2019ve opened a few businesses over the years, and we\u2019ve had to close a couple. And I don\u2019t know if any of them have hurt as much as this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palliser and business partner Ezra Berman founded the Athletic Club Oakland in 2018. It was a sister bar to the San Francisco Athletic Club, which closed last summer after 11 years. The website for that business maintains a statement saying it had been \u201ca tough road since the pandemic, but it was worth the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the San Francisco location, the still-lingering effects of the COVID pandemic<\/a> loomed in Palliser\u2019s newest closing statement.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Athletic Club Oakland is adorned with flag as they host a World Cup watch party of the United States men’s national team\u2019s match against Iran in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. The U.S. beat Iran 1-0. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that we have been fighting for and against probably since the beginning of COVID, to be honest,\u201d he said. \u201cAs so many bars and restaurants know, these times are tough and we\u2019ve been doing everything we can think of to keep this place alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Athletic Club Oakland was a haven for sports-lovers of all affinities. Serving cold beer and carb-loaded snacks like wings and waffle fries, it often attracted crowds during big games, even rolling out AstroTurf and TVs on the street for open-air revelry.<\/p>\n

Times had been tough. The exodus of major sports franchises from Oakland \u2014 the Raiders, the Warriors and the A\u2019s \u2014 have been devastating to local sports bars<\/a>. Last year, the The Athletic Club Oakland launched a crowdfunding campaign to pivot into a \u201cchef-driven remodel timed between February\u2019s Super Bowl and the start of March Madness,\u201d according to the San Francisco Standard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That obviously did not work out. But there\u2019s a chance for redemption, yet. Palliser shared on Instagram that he and his team have been talking with an unnamed party, who\u2019s interested in keeping the spot alive as a sports bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to leave you with a little hope that maybe in a few months we\u2019ll be able to get this place reopened with a new operator but, hopefully, still the same Athletic Club energy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the bar posted, it\u2019s \u201cbeen a lot of fun screaming at televisions with you all!!! Love \u2014 the ACO team.\u201d<\/p>\n

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