NZ teams would be 'participating' (JJ) in an Australian comp being A League so, if any finish last they would be relegated into the NSD, which is also an Australian comp, so they can try to get back up again like the other teams are trying to do.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/mar/30/premier-league-block-owners-guilty-human-rights-abuses-new-rules?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

HAhahahahahahah good luck with that one chaps... Good news for the Aleague though, might make some of these owners looks south for a club to help promote their ideals.... Auckland and Canberra here we go...........

As we see with the recent IOC decision on allowing Russia and Bielarus to take part in the next Olympics, as a general rule, these sorts of sporting associations don't really give a damn about anything except money.

Any news on the new Auckland and Canberra franchise license sale?

Looks like Tasmania is a done deal for the AFL now..... 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/02/tasmania-granted-19th-afl-team-licence-after-club-presidents-unanimous-support

Collingwood are 0 from 2 when it comes to expanding into other sports.... what a shambles.  Hope the APL wasnt planning on them trying "sokkah" again?

https://www.foxsports.com.au/netball/super-netball-2023-collingwood-magpies-withdraw-from-competition-news-latest-update/news-story/ffdd192bc2173f2c10bd51665b99fa2f

Makes one wonder if the Sutherland/Cronulla Sharks team for the NST will get folded, if they were to win a place in the new competition after some participation in future.

Very good point.

Sutherland Sharks have been around for more than 90 years, which is actually longer than the NRL team. If Cronulla lose interest they won't be folded, although it might mean dropping back down to NPL.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/a-leagues-to-add-canberra-auckland-teams-in-50m-expansion-20230314-p5crwp.html

"Instead of an open-slather tender process inviting bids from across the country, the APL has conducted extensive research to determine which untapped markets hold most potential for the A-Leagues. Canberra and Auckland were the clear standouts to become teams 13 and 14, chief executive Danny Townsend said.Both cities have been designated “preferred market status” by the APL. The organisation’s chiefs have already begun consulting football community leaders, governments and other potential stakeholders to gather support. They will spend the next few months searching for investors, before ideally awarding club licences to the new owners in June – giving them about 14 months to prepare both men’s and women’s teams for kick-off in October 2024."

Any follow up stories on these "shovel ready" bids by the impeccably ethical Vince Rugari? Its June and nothing.. Hes filed his "APL is responsible for Postecoglous success" article and his "how great was the festival of football, accept for that one guy who actually went to it and is just trying to earn twitter notoriety" articles... when can we expect news on these two inevitable expansions? Or the imminent Perth Glory sale to a new billionaire (defs not crypto this time guys)?

From what I'm hearing on the ground in Auckland - i.e. absolutely nothing - it's just not going to happen

Where was July 1 mentioned as a deadline for announcing the expansion teams?

In Rugari's article, it is explicitly mentioned that the APL will fund the start-up of the teams if they don't find owners right away. In Canberra Michael Caggiano will definitely be involved, but ther might be a mixed ownership model. Auckland is anyone's guess. Ivan Vukich has been making moves but they might want to steer clear of Auckland City, given the stuff going on over here with Sydney Utd/Melbourne Knights.

Well your right they dont mention July 1st, rather Vince was instructed to "report"  June ......... just wondering if any concrete news because it is now June????

The organisation’s chiefs have already begun consulting football community leaders, governments and other potential stakeholders to gather support. They will spend the next few months searching for investors, before ideally awarding club licences to the new owners in June – giving them about 14 months to prepare both men’s and women’s teams for kick-off in October 2024."

BTW, just wondering why only some APL news gets reported on?
Adelaide United executive chairman Piet Van Der Pol is suing for $684,000 in “unpaid salary” – but the club says it owes him nothing because he was “never an employee”. If I recall he was all over NPL clubs allegedly (proved false in the end) owing a player 2 k in Super payments........ radio silence on this Vinnie boy?

https://twitter.com/theTiser/status/1666984943887728640

Maybe both Joey and Vince misheard



https://www.espn.com.au/football/story/_/id/37637133/a-league-targeting-canberra-auckland-expansion-2024



https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/a-leagues-to-add-canberra-auckland-teams-in-50m-expansion-20230314-p5crwp.html

https://countingdownto.com/?c=4806583

Maybe do a counting "up" timer for this one, similar to the Werribee Wembley one :)

https://www.espn.com.au/football/story/_/id/37843190

"What we've kind of found is, certainly the global money, isn't price sensitive," Garcia said. "And [investors are] not just buying the licence, they're taking a share in the APL, it's a much bigger proposition. There are not many places you can go in and you can control your destiny, be a part of controlling your destiny, at the elite level as well as the club.

"It's also attractive from a player development point of view. It's a safe environment, English is the first language, and the high-performance utility is brilliant in terms of hardware and software and coaching capability. So if you're thinking about developing young talent, this is a good place to go."

Sounds like they're really just marketing the sale of a stake in the APL and giving you a free shirt (colour of your choice) with it

Pretty much aiming for "MLS lite" status...... Chasing 150 million over the next few years .... good luck to them, hope it all fails in a steaming pile of garbage.

There is some seriously delusional thinking out there. We've all seen the TV metrics. They are abysmal. Who  on the earth would stump up 25 mill when it is impossible to see how anything broadcaster will pick up the next tv tights deal? 

Love the" kind of ".  Seriously, when you can't even use an idiom of basic linguistic competence. The whole sentence is nonsensical. 

Mate, they can pretty much state whatever garbage they want these days, the only ones who believe it (or rather don't really believe it but chose to hope anything is better than the old NSL Effniks being proven right) are those desperate for the Aleague to remain, pure, white and franchised..... 

"What we've kind of found is, certainly the global money, isn't price sensitive,"  Money isnt price sensitive .... theres a new one 

Im soooo looking forward to all the Vince Rugari and Frank Brunoskevic "articles" later this year when the NSD clubs are announced..... I predict Danny Boy will promise you all air conditioned stadiums, a 56 franchise 4 division closed shop league, two Brazilians for every franchise, direct qualification into Europa League.... anything under the sun to keep from "jumping ship" 

The Croatian community in Auckland came over in the late 19th century to dig kauri gum and found vineyards, not in 1946 for "reasons". The Croatian community in NZ just doesn't have the Ustaše fringe.

But an Auckland A-League team won't happen because no-one, including ACFC, has the money Townshend is looking for.

Yeah, that is an absolute doozy - money that's isn't price sensitive. Ffs is this client from another planet.?  Did he finish high school? Flat out embarrassing. 

Yeah and apologies for the SwiftKey incoherence 

I'm as concerned as anyone that, unless things turn around dramatically in the next three years (and the GF decision isn't helping), the next TV deal is going to be a massive cold shower for the APL.

But I would say that international ownership groups aren't focussed so much on broadcast income. They'd more be looking to harvest players and on-sell them to overseas clubs. Which to be frank A-League clubs could get a lot better at doing. Our players have tended to be criminally under-valued, for a variety of reasons, including the absence of domestic transfers, prevalence of short-term contracts, a short season in the summer heat with relatively few games and the absence of relegation meaning the stakes of games are low. But it's also down to clubs not understanding well how the international transfer market works, and so they're just leaving money on the table.

Fortunately this seems to be changing of late, e.g. Melbourne City getting $2m for Bos. If more internationally-owned clubs invest in academies, sell players to Europe for decent coin and then invest the proceeds back into the game, then that is a good thing for the league. It's an income stream the other codes don't have and can enable the A-League to close the gap with them financially.

MLS, incidentally, was in the same boat but they're starting to learn how to work the transfer market. Almiron sold from Atlanta to Newcastle for £20m, and Castellanos looks like he will be going for €15m to Benfica (from New York City). We might not be able to command those kinds of fees but if clubs can start selling players for millions rather than hundreds of thousands that can make a big difference to their bottom line.

Amazing if it is actually the case.... What incentive would a foreign corporation have in doing this though... as long as the "production line" of players is streaming one way (out of Australia) what would they care?

So they can sign more players and sell them on too? It sounds cold-blooded but that is football economics in the modern day world, unfortunately.

Owners are motivated by different things and it's not necessarily just being in a lesser league makes you a selling club. Some clubs make it to the EPL and are still selling clubs. I think someone buying an al club strictly for cashing in on transfers is in for a hiding. The highest fee ever received is 2 million in basically 20 years. That's 1 or 2 years losses for one club alone...

Which begs the question .... who would spend $25 million to do that?