Image courtesy of Minnesota Aurora FC
“Show Bizness”
Today, Minnesota Aurora FC announced a new partnership with Twin Cities local FOX 9 to air all six home games on FOX 9+. Where does one find this station?
Traditional / Linear TV
- Over-The-Air channel 9.2
- Comcast channels 10 / 807
- DirecTV channel 29
- DISH channel 29
- Spectrum channel 10
- Mediacom channels 10 / 803
Streaming
- FOX9.com
- FOX 9’s Youtube page
- Hulu + Live TV
- Sling TV
- Tubi
- fuboTV
- YouTube TV
“Evolution (And Flashback)”
Aurora President Andrea Yoch mentioned that FOX 9 wanted the television rights to Minnesota Aurora games last year.
“They actually reached out to us last season but couldn’t clear [broadcast space for] all of our games. So, we went with WCCO for streaming,” Yoch explained. “WCCO was a wonderful partner, and we are so grateful for everything they did. This season we got started earlier, and FOX 9+ was able to air all of our games without schedule conflicts. The assistant News Director Mike Durkin has been pursuing Aurora.”
FOX 9 Senior Vice President and General Manager Marian Davey echoed this history.
“We reached out to Andrea Yoch, President and Co-Founder of the team ahead of the inaugural season to explore partnership opportunities. After a successful first season, it’s now official.”
“I Think I’ll Call It Morning”
The club was clever in teasing the news. On Tuesday, March 28 around 7:40 PM, Aurora tweeted the following:
“Comment #1”
Minnesota Aurora tweeted the following on Wednesday, March 29, 6:30 AM, with a link to an official news release:
“Our 6 home matches will be televised on Fox9+ (@FOX9) for the 2023 season, starting with our home opener on May 24th! #AuroraOnTV“
“When You Are Who You Are”
Of course, FOX 9 informed their morning news viewers of the same developments on Wednesday, March 29, at 7:30 and 8:30 AM with two features at Aurora’s home TCO Stadium.
At 7:30 AM, FOX 9’s anchors Tom Butler and Hannah Flood announced the Minnesota Aurora and FOX 9 partnership live on air and featured reporter Se Kwon at TCO Stadium interviewing the Supporters Group Revontulet president Mel Birke. The broadcast ended with a chant about team colors and identity.
“The New Deal(s)”
At 8:30 AM, live on FOX 9, Se Kwon interviewed MN Aurora Head Coach Nicole Lukic. Lukic discussed the importance of the new FOX 9 deal.
“Yeah, it’s huge. I mean, at any level, it’s a really big deal, especially for a women’s team . . . to have a live game on TV. So we’re really excited about our partnership with [FOX 9] and just being more accessible to all of our fans.”
Coach Lukic also hinted at another new deal.
“Yeah, we have players coming from all over: some that we’ve announced, some that are still secret with another player being announced tomorrow.”
Another source within Aurora informed Sota Soccer that this player will be a new midfielder.
“Plastic Pattern People”
Six members of the Aurora Supporters Group “Revontulet” made it down to TCO Stadium this morning. They brought their new smaller patterned flags on shorter PVC plastic poles.
“The mini flags we’ve introduced smaller size flags: two by threes on five foot poles instead of three by fives on seven foot poles, just to make it more accessible for people, for kids, for anybody that wants to kind of have something smaller that they want to wave.”
Revontulet President Mel Birke
I sat down with Revontulet President Mel about how they found out about this news.
MJ: When was Revontulet contacted to be a part of this?
MB: We were contacted Saturday and were asked to show up on Wednesday. We kept it within our internal chat channel, putting it out there that if you’re available, to show up.
MJ: If Aurora fans want to get more involved with Revontulet and not be left out in the cold, they need to join your chat right?
MB: Yeah, join our Discord. Then you’ll know that actually you can come join us out in the cold and be there with us for these types of special events.
The site “teal.energy” redirects to the Revontulet website. There is a link at the bottom to join the Revontulet Discord and mailing list.
“Did You Hear What They Said?”
The ability to watch MN Aurora games on Traditional TV and Streaming has many excited, including Aurora President Andrea Yoch.
“With a lot of teams behind paywalls, having broadcasts and streams that are completely free to fans is a game changer. It will continue to help us build the Aurora community and welcome in everyone with no barriers.”
Wes Burdine, Black Hart owner, added his thoughts on the news.
“We hosted watch parties for all the [2022] away games (and will continue that this year), but we didn’t show the home games because streaming from websites requires a bit of work (and I was busy working with Aurora at the games). The move to FOX 9+ is huge because we can put the game on easily. We’ll definitely be showing all the home games. We’ll also be running a bus or two (since we sold out one of the buses in one day) from the bar to the stadium for home games.”
Pod On You Loons co-host and MN Aurora long-distance Community Owner James Hargrave was encouraged by the new deal, while noting his appreciation for the first season’s broadcasting.
“Firstly, I’d like to give credit to the USL-W Website for the 1st season. Coverage was great for Home Games, and having everything contained in one webpage per game was fantastic. However, this is a major step up in broadcast quality, and I’m very excited to see how it has been upgraded for Season 2!
“I will say, I will have to wait and see if Geoblocks or similar restrictions apply to me living overseas [Netherlands],” Hargave continued. “I know YouTube has a lot of Geoblocks, but from my first foray into the FOX 9+ website, I could watch the Weather Report for MN, always an important talking point, and looks cold! Based on that, I have hope that it will work for the Aurora games, and if I can’t watch live, I hope that there is an easy replay option available, not only to me as an International but to everyone!”
And a final note from Mel Birke, MN Revontulet President, who spoke to the deal’s accessibility:
“Obviously very stoked because this is just more accessibility, more availability, more exposure to this amazing club that a lot of us have grown to love.”
“Back Home”
MN Aurora FC open their 2023 season at home Wednesday, May 24 at 7 PM. Whether you watch on FOX 9+ via Traditional TV Streaming, or in person at TCO Stadium, please also check your Sota Soccer channels.
David Naylor 
Jeremy Rushing