KEY POINTS:
Future funding for the New Zealand Football Championship could hinge on the success of talks Graham Seatter is planning to have in Singapore early next month.
Seatter, wearing one of the many hats he pulls on these days, is hoping to stitch up a television deal which could have major implications for the game here.
Funding from the New Zealand Community Trust - major backer of the NZFC to the tune of $400,000 a year for the initial three seasons - finishes at the end of this season so New Zealand Soccer is keen to find continued backing, and not just for the championship.
The NZFC has lifted the profile of domestic football which has led to a number of players, including Auckland City's Cole Tinkler, Ben Sigmund and Michael Boxall and Waitakere United duo Sam Mathews and Daniel Ellensohn winning selection in the New Zealand A team for next month's games against Tahiti.
"We are looking to bundle the NZFC with a lot of other football and go out with what we see as an attractive package," said Seatter. "We are looking ahead to the next World Cup and the opportunities it is certain to present.
"I'm going to have meetings in Singapore on my way back from Zurich to see what we can do - especially given the link between Oceania and Asia for World Cup games in 2009."
Seatter says he hopes to have a whole deal to put to the three major broadcasters by the end of next month.
Seatter concedes there are some concerns among the eight NZFC franchises. "I guess in absence of certainty around funding there will be reluctance to increase costs. For that, read the number of teams."
He hoped to have a clearer picture by the time his board meets on February 7, when they will decide the make-up of the championship for the next three years. He will be at Fifa headquarters in Zurich late next week to discuss the women's under-17 world championships, to be played in New Zealand next year, but has no plans to meet president Sepp Blatter.
At last week's Oceania congress in Papua New Guinea, Blatter reaffirmed his call for professional teams only at future Fifa Club World Cup championships - jeopardising chances of NZFC teams playing in a tournament with a guaranteed US$1 million payday.
Asked what NZFC clubs would be playing for if this door was slammed shut, Seatter, tongue in cheek, said: "The same as they were 10 years ago."
He said there was a lot of work to be done to preserve Oceania's automatic entry to the tournament. But he is leaving discussions to Oceania president Reynald Temarii and general secretary Tai Nicholas, who are in Europe for the Uefa presidential election before going on to Fifa HQ.
It appears the professional team edict is something of a smokescreen, with the demand to allow the host country guaranteed participation a more pressing need.
"There are suggestions next year's tournament could go to Mexico and Fifa want to find a way which would allow the hosts to play," said Seatter. "They are looking at options including raising the number of teams to as high as eight. That would allow the six confederation champions to play alongside the hosts representative and perhaps the defending champions."
That would at least give NZFC teams something to set their sights on.
