More than a thousand people came out to a watch party in Oakland on Wednesday to see the United States men’s national soccer team trounce Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32 match at the FIFA World Cup.
This was the second watch party held at the city’s Raimondi Park for this year’s World Cup, and the turnout was even bigger this time around.
On Wednesday, about 1,440 people showed up at the park, which is home to the Oakland Ballers independent professional baseball team, to cheer on the American team. The first watch party on June 12 had 1,330 people in attendance.
As fans rolled into the Ballers’ ballpark Wednesday evening, anticipation mounted as the United States played in a win or go home match. There were fewer vendors for this watch party, but more fans were allowed on the field.
For the first watch party last month, fans needed to be split between the field and the bleachers. Management wasn’t sure how much damage the ground could take due to the number of people. But, after things went smoothly the first time, they decided to open it up to allow more people on the turf.
Watch parties at Raimondi Park are highly dependent on the Ballers schedule. With the U.S. playing their next match on Monday and the Oakland Ballers playing Tuesday at Raimondi Park, it is unclear right now if there’s enough turnaround time for the field to recover.
When the Ballers are in the offseason, Raimondi Park has been used for other community events like free outdoor movie nights, a collaboration between the Ballers, California State University, East Bay, and Pixar Animation Studios.
Casey Pratt with the Oakland Ballers talked about the energy and excitement that these watch parties bring to the neighborhood.
“What I see right now is Raimondi Park actively becoming Oakland’s living room, which is really fun. To have over a thousand folks just sitting here on our baseball field watching the game, cheering at the same time is like a really beautiful thing,” said Pratt.
