The Wellington Phoenix will likely chalk up their biggest 'home' crowd of the season tomorrow when they host the Central Coast Mariners at Eden Park and some key thinkers in the game believe the time is now right for Auckland to have a third crack at producing their own professional team.
Football Federation Australia plan on expanding the 10 team league to 12 in 2017, and with no formal bidding process, prospective teams are expected to work away behind the scenes now, before presenting their case to the governing body in about six months.
Auckland is, by far, the largest city in Australasia not represented in the A-League and after Auckland City's win yesterday against professional opposition at the FIFA Club World Cup, it appears the talent is already available for a competitive A-League team.
The Phoenix have also pulled in over 68,000 fans in their last four games at Eden Park (albeit four one-off fixtures including a Premier League exhibition match against West Ham), and the combination of factors could combine to create a compelling case for an Auckland side to trump likely applications from a second Brisbane team and a third Sydney team.
But after the dismal failures of the Football Kingz and the New Zealand Knights, Auckland still has a big question mark over its suitability for professional football. Where would they play? And who would fund it? Leading Australian football pundit Michael Cockerill believes the answer may require some lateral thinking.
"Oceania is the only confederation that doesn't have a professional team, and if you're thinking about how to fund an A-League team in Auckland, that is a very secure way of getting seed and base funding. OFC should look at being a partner, because they have so much to gain from it," said Cockerill.
"It requires people to look outside the square and look at this holistically. Sooner or later someone has to decide 'what's the purpose of the OFC?'. They want a spot at the World Cup, they want to be competitive, it would be helped by having a professional outfit.
"It's lateral thinking, it's not part of the rulebook but after 48 years they need to start being a bit more imaginative. And Auckland is the best possible outlet for that. It couldn't be a team entirely made up of Oceania players because it wouldn't be competitive, but you would have a foundation. Then you would want to provide investors in Auckland a chance to get on board."
Wellington Phoenix owner Gareth Morgan said in March that he is keen to see another New Zealand team in the A-League, and was interested at getting involved, but didn't want to drive the project.
Auckland City and Oceania Football Confederation both declined to comment on their current situation but six months ago Auckland City chairman Ivan Vuksich said "If there's a possibility of another A-League team in Auckland we would definitely be keen to be involved. I have people working for me trying to find investors and the signs are reasonably encouraging. There are plenty of people in Auckland who could do it, perhaps half a dozen, but it's whether we can get them interested."
But Phoenix boss David Dome sees some big clouds on the horizon for any Auckland bid.
"Population wise, Auckland works. But there is no natural home for them. Eden Park is too big and costs a lot to take games there. Mount Smart is earmarked to be a speedway track, and then there is North Harbour Stadium and everything we know about Aucklanders suggests they won't travel there.
"Another factor is that the FFA currently don't see any value in the money coming out of New Zealand. So why would they add another NZ team if the Phoenix are at the bottom of attendances and viewership?"
Dome said the Phoenix are agnostic about an Auckland A-League bid, but thought that Cockerill's OFC vision made lot of strategic sense.
"If Oceania players could be categorised as domestic that could work for them, but are they willing to pump two million in to set it up, then 500k a year to run? And what stadium can they use?"
- By Steven Holloway of nzherald.co.nz
