02/11/2016 16:14:00A-League expansion has become "a strategic priority" for FFA and Goal Australia understands the Apple Isle is ready to pounce.

Tasmania shapes as the early A-League expansion front-runner, with a consortium representing the island state set to meet with Football Federation Australia (FFA) next week.Goal Australia understands that a group looking to set up an A-League club in Tasmania are in a great position to make their case as they have government support at federal and state level, plus the backing of Football Federation Tasmania.Unlike other groups rumoured to be pushing for an A-League licence, the consortium behind Tasmania's application are understood to have a very detailed plan for how their club would be run with elements such as a home ground and ownership structure already finalised.The consortium, which reportedly includes former Melbourne Victory board members Harry Stamoulis and Robert Belteky, also apparently have the money in the bank to enter the A-League as soon as next season.

Former South Melbourne midfielder and football agent David Clarkson - who grew up in Tasmania - is a driving force behind the bid.

Goal Australia was unable to make contact with Clarkson for a comment.In an article in Hobart-based newspaper The Mercury last week, an FFA spokesman was quoted confirming the governing body has been contacted by a Tasmanian consortium interested in A-League expansion."At this stage FFA have not engaged in formal dialogue with this group or any other groups as it would be premature to do so before a detailed road map for expansion has been finalised," the spokesman said.FFA has made it clear that expanding the A-League to a 12-team competition is a top priority once a new broadcast deal is finalised.The A-League's current broadcast deal with Fox Sports and SBS expires at the end of this season.While FFA CEO David Gallop has previously claimed the A-League should "fish where the fish are", indicating that capital cities would be a priority for expansion, more recent comments by him and Head of A-League Greg O'Rourke have given smaller areas and cities some hope.The past few months has seen numerous locations around Australia and New Zealand named as possible sites for A-League expansion.Victory have previously hosted A-League matches at Launceston's Aurora Stadium, while a former group known as Tasmania United were amongst the defeated bids for a licence when Melbourne Heart joined the competition in 2010-11.

http://www.goal.com/en-au/news/4021/a-league/2016/11/02/29092422/a-league-expansion-ffa-set-for-tasmania-meeting

"At this stage FFA have not engaged in formal dialogue with this group or any other groups as it would be premature to do so before a detailed road map for expansion has been finalised,"

FMD, how long do they need.

I'd be more than happy to see a viable Tassie team come in.

http://www.themercury.com.au/sport/local-sport/aleague-wants-to-expand-but-theres-no-room-for-tasmania/news-story/37a649e36826103d05f7a074f28ad156

A-League wants to expand but there’s no room for Tasmania

SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON, MercuryOctober 5, 2016 7:45amA-LEAGUE expansion is back on the radar but once again Tasmania remains the forgotten state.And Football Federation Tasmania chief executive Mike Palmer says only a cashed-up white knight would convince Football Federation Australia that Tasmania can be a viable location for a franchise.A-League bosses said yesterday the 10-team competition could expand within the next four years.At the launch of the 2016-17 A-League yesterday, FFA chief executive David Gallop, and then the new competition boss Greg O’Rourke, said a possible promotion/relegation set-up was also on the agenda.But it is believed locations such as the Sutherland Shire, south of Sydney, Geelong, Canberra, Townsville and Ipswich are most likely to be favoured as potential homes for future A-League bases.Palmer said there was no reason why Tasmania could not be a successful A-League location, but it would require a significant benefactor to bankroll it.“We would always be supportive of anyone who is wishing to grow the game in Tasmania, whether that is through an A-League club,” he said. “But that isn’t something we are pursuing and it’s something I think that the FFA wouldn’t expect us as a state body to pursue.”

The Mercury believes that the annual costs of supporting an A-League club in the state have been estimated to be about $7 million to $10 million.In the late 2000s, the state did throw its hat into the ring to secure a A-League licence with the establishment of the Tasmania United Football Club taskforce, which was even in discussions with mega-rich Ethiopian and Saudi Arabian Sheik Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi to finance the club.But nothing eventuated from the taskforce and Tasmania has been largely ­ignored by the A-League since — adding to snubs from the AFL, AFL Women’s League and the NBL in recent years.This is despite FFA’s Whole of Football Plan, released last year, saying every major Australian centre with a population of more than 500,000 had the market size to host an A-League club.Rather than look to Tasmania — which has just over 12,000 people playing soccer each year — the FFA seems set to once again go back to the idea of a multiple team model in Queensland, despite thefailure of two of its threeattempts in the state.But the State Government was noncommittal when asked if it would support a Tasmanian bid, with Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier Sarah Courtney, rather than Premier and Sports Minister Will Hodgman, responding to the Mercury’s questions.“I’m certainly surprised Tasmania has not been ­included in the areas flagged by David Gallop for Football Federation Australia to ­expand into,” she said.Opposition Leader Bryan Green said the State Government needed to do more.“It is incumbent on the Government to get off its hands and ensure Tasmania gets back in the conversation should the A-League expand,” he said.

Con m, your linked article was from early October, this one is from November, things can change quickly.

This appears to be material progress, if the plans and backing in the Goal article are to be believed.

Just contributing to global warming, their flight.

i know gaz provides historical context

Why fly when you could take the boat down?
 

Maybe I'm missing something, but why would you set up a team in a state that:

1. has no stadium to play out of (im talking about a rectangular boutique one)
2. has an almost zero population growth
3. has little to no industry (ie for sponsorship)

it's madness. 

Its crossed my mind many a time. 

Be interesting to see how they overcome the Hobart or Launceston barrier

Probably tell the locals to get the fuck over it if they want a team.

This move makes no sense at all. Tasmanian's are crying out for an AFL team not a football team. I have no problem with small teams being in the A-league or even regional cities but how can Tasmania be ahead of sure hits like Canberra or Wollongong. Once Tasmania fails it will be the death of A-league clubs in Wollongong and Canberra. Surely the FFA is not seriously considering it. 

They key is backing.

Having a half-billionaire that was one of the original Victory board members on board changes everything.

If the Government can throw support at it by offering a good stadium/sponsorship deal - like what Hawthorn - or even a smaller version of it - has at York Park or even the sponsorship at Bellerive Oval the economics of a team can overcome these obstacles.

Yeah pretty much. It's all well and good going on about Canberra or Wollongong but FFA only start caring when some rich bloke can lead the bid and inevitably cop losses.

If the State and Local Government throw in some extra cash on top through some sort of partnership, then it's actually a far safer bet than a lot of other bids.

South Hobart vs Launceston City, Tasmanian derby in A2 League.

This is exactly why a-league needs an A2 league without promotion relegation. NASL is breeding ground for promotion to the MLS and clubs like Sacramento and Cincinnati are flourishing while being a few years off from being given a promotion place.

Calling both those clubs amatuer would be putting it mildly. Whilst I like the idea, uplifting those clubs to the point where they could play in a national league would not only be extremely costly but so transformative that they wouldn't even look like what they are now.

Tasmania is just one of those regions like Canberra, Geelong or Townsville where no existing local club will be good enough to make it up to that level and the only way they will ever get a team is if a franchise is dropped on top of them.

This whole idea feels like NQF all over.

Except this time the population base is fragmented/dispersed and the main code is AFL instead of NRL.

Cant see why it would be considered over canberra wollongong or any other more viable option 

good move to get in before afl.

Wollongong sure you have a good argument there but how exactly do you see a team in Canberra getting off the ground though?

 If there is no cashed up person or Consortium leading the charge then it relys on the ffa starting and then selling the team which I doubt they'll do again. There is little benefit in them doing the Wanderers exercise for a regional team that potentially won't fetch the selling required to cover initial expenses.

The difference with this is that the FFA can offload both the risk and start up expenses to the owner and just make sure things comply to their requirements. 

Tasmania will never have an AFL team. If they have government support, financial backing and a solid business plan than what is the issue?

Look at City, Wellington and CCM and the crowds they get, and they're long established teams. No other new club will have the instant success that WSW had. They were the second team in the biggest city in the country representing a massive population base. Nowhere else close to those parameters exists here. People need to be realistic about what new franchises are going to bring.

I would agree. The safer option would be Wollongong or Canberra. As romantic as it sounds Tasmania would be a huge risk. Maybe Tasmania for a second tier in the future.

For realistic people who understand football there would be no issue, they would be a welcome addition. For those still stuck in the dick measuring mentality and fretting over nonsense statistics like average attendance, it would be a backwards step when we should be striving for every club to get 20k crowds and a trophy each season.

How familiar are you with the Tasmanian football milieu?

A League practice matches usually generate crowds of circa 7 000.

There is not viable egg ball professional team here.  There are no plans whatsoever of AFL starting one, despite the wishes of Tasmanians. At the same time Canberra seems a viable HAL option as does Wollongong, but it may not be a question of either/or.

The update on this is that in The Mercury, a Hobart based AFL loving and football hating tabloid, it reports there will be  a meeting this coming Wednesday between the Stamoulis/Belteky bid group and FFA for plans to start a HAL team in Tassie as soon as next season.

They've provided a business case to present to FFA.

 Tassie state Premier, Will Hodgman,  said they would help to secure a HAL team. 

Well said.

In Tasmania's previous bids there was no underpinning state league, no viable elite football pathway for youth and no tangible financial backing. This bid ticks all those boxes.

In the last few years since the inception of the state league  Tasmanian NPL teams have made up a lot of ground on the bigger Victorian and NSW NPL teams on the pitch.  

As a former resident and having a soft spot for Tasmania I hope they have a team however I can't see it even remotely working unless the demographics have changed significantly over the past two decades. I don't believe they have. Greater playing numbers does not constitute the improvement and cultural change that is needed. The state would prefer to pay AFL 10 times more to see a training run than to have a HAL team for a year.

Absolutely.

AFL only make noises about an AFL team in Tasmania when  they hear a HAL team may be set up. The upper echelons of AFL take Tasmanian support for the sport for granted. They have decimated the local Australian rules comp.

Comparatively, the upper echelons of FFA have been inclusive by having meaningful NPL games in the national NPL Cup and the national FFA Cup.

We see a lot more of a FFA presence in Tasmania than AFL. FFA's deeds are greater than AFL's words.