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SF’s New Pro Soccer Team Brings $10M Upgrade to Kezar Stadium

Golden Gate Park will be home to SF’s new pro soccer team Golden City FC
By - posted 5/12/2025 No Comment

Thanks to SFist for sharing the news about San Francisco’s brand new soccer team. A new men’s team, Golden City Football Club (GCFC), is set to launch in 2026 or 2027 and will call Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park its home.

The team will compete in MLS NEXT Pro, a fast-growing third-tier league affiliated with Major League Soccer. GCFC will play a February-to-October season, with 15 home games per year, mostly on weekends — giving locals plenty of chances to catch a match in the city without driving to the South Bay.

To get Kezar ready for the spotlight, the stadium is getting a $10 million renovation paid for by the team’s ownership. Expect some major upgrades:

  • Comfy new seats with actual backrests
  • A natural grass field and irrigation system
  • Pro-style concessions
  • An upgraded sound system
  • And a huge new LED scoreboard that might just glow all the way to Haight Street

Kezar, which originally opened in 1925, once hosted the 49ers and the Raiders. Today, Kezar hosts high school football games and serves as home field for the semi-pro team San Francisco City FC — and the good news is, all of that will continue alongside the new pro team. The track stays open to the public, and events like the annual Turkey Day Game will continue — just in a much-improved venue.

GCFC is led by two local founders — Geoff Oltmans and Marc Rohrer — both Bay Area finance professionals and longtime soccer supporters who played the game in college and now coach youth teams in the city. While GCFC will operate independently, it becomes part of a growing Northern California soccer scene that includes the San Jose Earthquakes (MLS), The Town FC (their MLS NEXT Pro affiliate), and the Oakland Roots (USL Championship). GCFC will compete in MLS NEXT Pro, a separate league focused on player development and expanding pro soccer into new markets.

This isn’t Kezar’s first brush with pro soccer — the San Francisco Deltas briefly played there in 2017 and even won a championship before their league folded days later. But this time, the investment and structure are built for something longer-term.

You can check out the team’s early web presence at gcfc.com — it’s minimal for now, but there’s more to come as kickoff gets closer.