Sports

Minnesota Aurora women’s soccer team withdraws bid to go pro

A player reaches towards a fan in the stands.
Minnesota Aurora midfielder Sofia Bush, right, gives fans high fives after a game against the Bavarian United SC at TCO Stadium in Eagan on June 20.
Tom Baker for MPR News

The Minnesota Aurora will have to wait a bit longer in their hopes of going professional.

The Eagan-based women’s pre-professional soccer team has withdrawn its bid to join the professional level National Women’s Soccer League.

In a statement, the team’s board said, “The process is extremely complex and while we had a strong investment group, circumstances out of our control kept us from pursuing the bid at this time. There remains strong interest by investors to support Minnesota Aurora going pro.”

The Aurora was founded in late 2021, and is community-owned and women-led.

In three seasons, the team has gone undefeated in all regular season games, but they’ve yet to win a league championship.

The board said they’ll continue to grow the club. This summer, they launched Aurora soccer camps and added a second team — Aurora 2 — which will act as a pipeline for the main Aurora team.

“Though the NWSL isn’t happening right now, we are committed to building a healthy and sustainable organization that will grow so we can continue to explore all opportunities available to us in the future,” the board’s statement said.