KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's hopes of having a team in next season's A-League will go down to the wire.
The Auckland and Wellington bidders chasing the licence surrendered by the New Zealand Knights franchise confirmed yesterday they were still in the race by presenting business plans and stating their readiness to go to due diligence.
But, with the March 1 deadline looming, there is little time for them to plead their case.
More important, however, may be a meeting New Zealand Soccer chief executive Graham Seatter and his chairman John Morris will have this afternoon with Football Federation chief executive Ben Buckley and operations manager Matt Carroll in Sydney.
"That meeting will give us the opportunity to tell them where we see things sitting after receiving the submissions from both parties today," said Seatter yesterday. "It will be a heads-up meeting.
"We accept it has been a big ask to get the investment needed for an entity which, at this point in time, doesn't exist. I am still hopeful we can get this across the line," he said.
Seatter said that him and Morris going to Sydney and having the chance to further plead NZ's case would give both prospective sub-licensees more time to prepare their bids.
"Both groups want to get more information to us," said Seatter.
"We really only gave them 24 hours to prepare so we are happy to give them a little more time.
"The person behind the Auckland bid has been out of town today so he has welcomed an extra 24 hours."
The due diligence process will be undertaken by Auckland accounting and legal firms.
They will look at the information from both potential franchisees before reporting back to the national body, which has agreed to hold the licence - but only if it can find a bona fide sub-licensee.
Seatter did not dismiss suggestions the two bidders could eventually work together to ensure a Hyundai A-League team is again based in New Zealand.
"By the time we go into the meeting in Sydney, we hope to be better informed and in a position to press New Zealand's case," said Seatter.
It promises to be a crucial meeting.
