Minnesota Aurora to stay in USL-W at least through 2024
Minnesota Aurora will remain a pre-professional club in 2023 and 2024, the club announced Tuesday.
The update comes after the team’s ownership announced it was exploring opportunities to jump to a professional league.
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In its debut season, Aurora went 11-0-1 in the regular season and then got all the way to the USL-W League championship game where they lost in overtime.
In October, the club’s board noted, “professional soccer requires deep pockets,” and it would need new, high-level investors to make that jump.
Tuesday, the organization posted a message to social media saying, “Ultimately, the timeline proved too short for us to secure the necessary investments to join a professional league for 2024.”
“While we wish we could have made it happen this time around, we are encouraged by the amount of support we have already received from the US professional leagues,” the club added.
The statement also noted that the NWSL and USL Super League invited the team to put together bids to join them as early as 2024, and the club said it will continue to pursue a jump to the professional level in the future.
“Until then, our attention remains focused on growing our support and success in the upcoming 2023 USL-W season,” Aurora said.