The privately owned club — it was founded by former head of comedy at Fusion Bryan Carmel and his Oakland boyhood friend and edtech entrepreneur Paul Freedman, with the help of outside investors — offered fans a chance to join a $1.2 million financing round last year. Some 2,200 of them signed up. A $2 million round is planned for this year.

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and rapper Too $hort are attempting to keep baseball alive in the Bay Area. The music icons are joining the ownership group of the Oakland Ballers, a new independent team attempting to keep baseball alive in the city.

Last summer, the Oakland Ballers — a Pioneer League baseball team that played its inaugural season in 2024 — welcomed more than 2,200 fans into its ownership group through a community investment round that raised $1.