{"id":684361,"date":"2026-06-04T18:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T18:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/684361\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T18:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T18:13:15","slug":"they-made-kezar-stadium-their-home-then-sfs-mayor-uprooted-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/684361\/","title":{"rendered":"They made Kezar Stadium their home. Then SF’s mayor uprooted them."},"content":{"rendered":"

Like so many longtime residents of\u00a0San Francisco<\/a>, an influx of big money is set to uproot the city\u2019s fan-owned soccer team from its home turf.<\/p>\n

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The San Francisco City Football Club has been around for 25 years and is the nation\u2019s oldest supporter-owned soccer club<\/a> \u2014 a unique structure compared with the standard of American sport. Since its humble beginnings in 2001, the side battled its way into the minor league United Soccer League\u2019s second division, a national league of semi-professional teams with Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 favored Vermont Green as the reigning champions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And perhaps no team is as rooted in its city more than SFCFC.\u00a0Its logo<\/a> features Sutro Tower, its mascot is \u201cFoggy\u201d and the club\u2019s slogan, \u201cCity \u2019til I move to Colma,\u201d is an ode to San Francisco\u2019s graveyard history<\/a>. Not to mention the club\u2019s partnership with the San Francisco Municipal Railway, with the iconic, squiggly<\/a> \u201cworm\u201d logo adorned across its chest. And for most of its decade-plus existence in the semi-pro levels, it has called the iconic Kezar Stadium<\/a> home.<\/p>\n

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Fans take in a San Francisco City Football Club match at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seamus Geoghegan<\/p>\n

In 2025, newly elected San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a\u00a0bold new plan<\/a> for the city\u2019s soccer scene. Golden City Football Club, with a co-owner who had deep ties to Lurie<\/a> prior to his becoming mayor, would invest at least $10 million in renovations at Kezar and join Major League Soccer\u2019s developmental league MLS Next Pro. The plans would make Golden City the primary team for the historic venue \u2014 over high school football teams, track events and, yes, the longtime local soccer team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big respect thing,\u201d Isaiah Cornejo, the youngest elected member on the club\u2019s membership board, told SFGATE earlier this year. \u201cFor someone to come up and say you have to ask us permission to play in the stadium that we\u2019ve been playing for 10 years? You can\u2019t really just come in and just kick us out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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According to board chairman Brendan Browne, the club found out about Golden City FC just days before the mayor took to Instagram to announce the team \u2014 and not directly from the new club but rather via \u201cword of mouth,\u201d he said. While SFCFC finished its 2025 season at Kezar with a record 1,500 fans at its final match, the club\u2019s nomadic lifestyle has already begun in 2026.<\/p>\n

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San Francisco Mayor Daniel\u00a0Lurie signs legislation with the Golden City\u00a0Football Club\u00a0at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco on June 25, 2025.<\/p>\n

San Francisco Police Department<\/p>\n

SFCFC\u00a0hosted its first match of the season on the city\u2019s west side at San Francisco State University\u2019s Cox Stadium. On Wednesday, the club was forced out of the city entirely and played a match at El Camino High School in South San Francisco, as it couldn\u2019t find a suitable venue with lights available in SF. That\u2019s already a big disappointment for Berdi Merdanov, who played for SFCFC before taking on the role of the club\u2019s head coach in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith SF City, it\u2019s unique, where you can\u2019t really move the club anywhere else, because it\u2019s SF City, supporter-owned for the community,\u201d Merdanov told SFGATE. \u201cThat\u2019s why, for me, I connected with it from the get-go.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The cl\u00e1sico\u00a0between SFCFC and the Glens, another SF soccer institution and its rival, on this upcoming Sunday will be back at SF State, not Kezar. Club supporters like Eli Groshelle fear a move away from the stadium could hamper the team\u2019s community.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing right at the end of the panhandle in Golden Gate Park and in the Haight, people will be walking by and be like, \u2018What\u2019s going on there?\u2019 and might engage with the football club more actively just by virtue of them being around it,\u201d Groshelle told SFGATE.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no getting around the negative sentiments toward\u00a0Golden City FC from the SFCFC folks \u2014 after all, an SFCFC slogan is \u201cbuilt, not bought.\u201d<\/p>\n

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SF City supporters cheer during a San Francisco City FC match against\u00a0Marin FC on May 27, 2026 in a USL League 2 game at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, California.<\/p>\n

Nap Badillo\/3pointsports\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco City FC faces off against the Davis Legacy SC on May 17, 2026 in a USL League 2 game at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, California<\/p>\n

Nap Badillo\/3pointsports\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco City Football Club players thank the supporters who attended the club\u2019s season-opening match at San Francisco State University\u2019s Cox Stadium in San\u00a0Francisco on May 3, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nap Badillo\/3pointsport<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to invest some money into Kezar, so they think it\u2019s fair that they get to kick everyone else out,\u201d Browne told SFGATE, adding that the club was \u201cringing the alarm bells\u201d almost instantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Browne, who has been involved with the club\u2019s board since 2015, pointed out that SFCFC has been through this before<\/a>. Back in 2017, the San Francisco Deltas played a\u00a0single season in the North American Soccer League and even won the league<\/a> in Kezar Stadium, while SFCFC moved to the University of San Francisco\u2019s Negoesco Stadium. After that season, the Deltas and their entire league folded<\/a>, and SFCFC moved back in at Kezar and has continued its growth from there.<\/p>\n

But the club is operating on the assumption that it won\u2019t play many, if any, home games at Kezar Stadium next season. And the fact that Golden City FC hasn\u2019t said much of anything publicly<\/a> since the announcement has only stoked SFCFC supporters\u2019 skepticism. (An anonymous spokesperson told KQED<\/a> last month that\u00a0Golden City FC\u2019s silence is intentional.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mayor and the city attempt a privatization of public spaces, which I\u2019m not into, to some extent by taking private donations and then being like they have exclusive access to this field, which is a public park,\u201d Groshelle said. \u201cIt seems like it could be another case of tech investors just kind of grifting their own investors and paying the city a bunch of money and not really being able to deliver on their promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

This summer has become a transitional season for SFCFC. The club has been able to host four matches at Kezar, with two already played and two more in early July. That\u2019s likely not going to be the case when Golden City FC officially starts up, leaving SFCFC to do soccer\u2019s version of couch-surfing throughout the city \u2014 Browne said finding a stadium that can both meet the USL\u2019s requirements and fit the club\u2019s needs is much easier said than done.<\/p>\n

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The starting lineup for the San Francisco City Football Club poses for a photo in front of some fans at\u00a0Kezar Stadium in San Francisco on May 17, 2026.<\/p>\n

Nap Badillo\/3pointsport<\/p>\n

For now, the best alternative appears to be Cox Stadium. At the season-opening match last month, many around the club had ties to SF State and enjoyed returning to the campus, especially since the Gators cut soccer<\/a> after the 2024-25 school year. Alums of the school include one of SFCFC\u2019s play-by-play broadcasters\u00a0\u2014 Jack Lowery on the English-language call, who graduated in 2015\u00a0\u2014 on top of numerous fans and several current players. The club\u2019s other broadcaster, Mark Moreno for Spanish speakers, is a current student.<\/p>\n

SFCFC captain and defender Adrian Vasquez, midfielder Issay Bravo and forward Isaac Sandoval all played for the Gators. While he admitted he enjoyed his time back in the Swamp, Vasquez said the nearly 900 fans in attendance on May 3 added more fuel to their fire than playing at a familiar venue did.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what field we\u2019re at. The fans are coming out, and it\u2019s always a blessing,\u201d Vasquez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Nowhere was that more apparent than when La Bah\u00eda De Frisco, a culmination<\/a> of three supporters groups formed last year in response to the mayor\u2019s announcement, erupted after each of the team\u2019s three goals. After the shutout win, the group\u2019s Instagram account proclaimed<\/a> that Cox Stadium was a \u201cvibe\u201d on that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it still wasn\u2019t home, especially when a post-match celebration couldn\u2019t be across the street at the Kezar Pub. Instead, supporters gathered upstairs at the Dubliner in the West Portal neighborhood. The noise of the bar below was drowned out by fans singing \u2014 to the tune of \u201cWhen the Saints Go Marching In\u201d \u2014 \u201cI want to be in San Francisco, when the fog comes rolling in.\u201d (A scarf for the rival Glens mysteriously disappeared off the wall, replaced with city\u2019s black and gold.)<\/p>\n

No one around the club is certain of what\u2019s next as this season kicks into high gear. But Browne promised that the club is not going anyway anytime soon, no matter what happens with Golden City FC and Kezar.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ll always survive because the whole way the club is set up is to survive these types of things,\u201d the board chairman said. \u201cWe\u2019re built on sustainability, 100%. That\u2019s why we\u2019re still around, and so I\u2019m not worried about it. They can do whatever they want to do, and we\u2019ll adjust and we\u2019ll move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kezar Stadium, the longtime home of the San Francisco City Football Club, sits empty ahead of a match in San Francisco on May 17, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nap Badillo\/3pointsport<\/p>\n

And perhaps the uncertainty can be a unifying force. Through the\u00a0first month of action<\/a>, SFCFC is unbeaten, leading the Northern California division with three wins and a tie. For fans like Austin Peterson, a follower since 2018, it\u2019s not hard to dream about the spotlight that a deep USL2 playoff run could bring to the club \u2014 and its fight for its home.<\/p>\n

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\u201cVermont, they won the title last year, and they got nationwide attention,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cIf SF City can do something like that, I think that would bring soccer and San Francisco to a whole new level.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Seamus Geoghegan was born and raised in San Francisco and has been a Bay Area sports fan ever since. A writer and photographer, Seamus was formerly editor-in-chief of San Francisco State\u2019s newspaper Golden Gate Xpress and City College\u2019s The Guardsman. Now, you can find them strolling through the city\u2019s beautiful parks or scarfing down an El Farolito burrito.<\/p>\n