Adelaide United outlaid a bargain $1 million licence fee in a leap of faith to join the new competition in 2005.
AS eight remaining expansion club hopefuls are offering FFA a collective $85 million in licence fees, SA’s chances of having a new A-League club is diminishing fast with inflation.
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SOUTH Australia’s chances of having a new A-League club are diminishing fast.
Licence fees have skyrocketed by 1500 per cent in 13 years, judging by what some new franchise hopefuls are willing to hand to FFA as the game continues to boom with participation numbers hovering above one million people.
Two expansion clubs are understood to have tabled to FFA $15 million each in a bid to be part of the A-League.
Adelaide United outlaid what is now a bargain $1 million licence fee when eight clubs took a leap of faith to join the new competition in 2005.
FFA appears destined to land an immediate $50 million hit from four expansion clubs joining the 10 existing franchises. An announcement is imminent before October 31.
It’s understood FFA will unveil two expansion clubs for 2019 and at the same time it will give the green light for potentially two more clubs to join the A-League in 2020, bringing the competition number to 14.
After A-League head Greg O’Rourke in May said “16 clubs would be the limit” for expansion, chairman of the new SA club bid Andy Haralampopoulos is still confident of leading a club rival for Adelaide United.
The SA bid was knocked out of the current expansion process in August.
It is understood the bid offered more than $4 million for a licence fee.
“The investors are extremely patient and they’re happy to prolong the wait,’’ Haralampopoulos said “They now need to know when the next phase of expansion is.”
The bid had the backing of an English consortium with a $100 million budget and a partnership agreement with NPL club West Adelaide Hellas.
With Fox Sports’ current TV deal expiring in 2023 and the salary cap handouts per 10 clubs standing at $3.4 million, it appears the expansion clubs’ licence fees will cover the shortfall for the competition until the end of the TV contract.
An FFA official also claimed expansion clubs that offered to pay more for licence fees than others were not necessarily front runners to join the A-League competition.
EXPANSION CLUB HOPEFULS
(Vic): West Melbourne:
Proposed licence fee offered: $15 million plus GST
Proposed home stadium/s:
Wyndham Stadium (the group is proposing to build and own its stadium without government funding)
(Kardinia Park, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in the interim)
(NSW) Southern Expansion
Proposed Licence fee: $15 million plus GST (money reportedly in the bank)
Proposed home stadium/s: Shark Park, Kogarah Oval and Wollongong Stadium (in the interim, propose to build a stadium in the near future).
Vic) South Melbourne
Proposed licence fee: $15 million plus GST
Proposed home stadium: Lakeside Stadium
(Vic): Team 11:
**Bid subject to Victorian State Government building a stadium in the Dandenong region
Proposed licence fee offered: $10 million plus GST
Proposed home stadium: Dandenong Stadium (Casey Fields in the interim)
(NSW) South West Sydney
Proposed licence fee: $10 million plus GST
Proposed home stadium: Campbelltown Stadium (NSW)
(ACT): Canberra
Proposed licence fee: $10 million plus GST
Proposed home stadium: Canberra Stadium
(NSW) Wollongong Wolves
Proposed licence fee: $5 million plus GST
Proposed home stadium: Wollongong Stadium
(QLD): Western Pride
Proposed licence fee: $5 million plus GST
Proposed home stadium: North Ipswich Reserve