After big first season, Minnesota Aurora eyes going pro in women's soccer
Following a successful first season, leaders of the Minnesota Aurora women’s soccer team said Monday they are accelerating the team’s timeline to join a professional league and are talking now to investors.
The Aurora quickly built a big fan base, averaging 5,000 fans per game and breaking attendance records at their home field, the Vikings' TCO stadium in Eagan. A sellout crowd of nearly 6,500 fans attended the final match.
The team sailed through its inaugural regular season undefeated in USL W League before losing the championship game to South Georgia Tormenta FC, 2-1.
Given the “overwhelming community support in our first year, we now have the opportunity to pursue a professional team far sooner than we initially expected,” the Aurora said in a statement Monday.
Professional soccer, team leaders added, “requires deep pockets” and involves finding higher level investors, noting that they are in the exploratory phase and that the “specifics and logistics of what a future will look like are not set at this point.”
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