Marshawn Lynch joins USL's Oakland Roots ownership group

Marshawn Lynch (24) Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Five-time Pro Bowl RB Marshawn Lynch joins ownership group of USL's Oakland Roots

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 4/16/21

Former NFL star running back and personality Marshawn Lynch found his latest project.

USL Championship side Oakland Roots confirmed on Friday that Lynch, an Oakland native, has joined the ownership group of the club that launched in 2019.

"Growing up in The Town, we always could count on the pro teams in this area but with most of those ones that I grew up with gone, I knew the minute I heard about the opportunity to join Oakland Roots, it wasn’t just something I wanted to do, it was something I had to do," he said in the prepared statement.

Lynch added:

"Giving kids in my home town a pro soccer club and players to look up to and a team that this community and city can get hella excited about was something I had to get down with."

He also spoke with ESPN's SportsNation about his new investment.

"From the start, we have tried to build an ownership group that was excited about more than just pro sports, but also about Oakland and our Purpose," Roots co-founder and CMO Edreece Arghandiwal explained. "We couldn’t be more proud to welcome someone who has long been an inspiration to Oaklanders and all of us at Roots. Who Marshawn is and what he represents means so much to the community and the greater Bay Area. He has always been about the action and he is exactly the type of person who can help us realize our vision for giving back to the city we all love."

Per Brian Straus of Sports Illustrated, the Roots made the jump from the third-division National Independent Soccer Association to the second-tier USL Championship this past September.

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