KEY POINTS:
New Zealand Soccer (NZS) wants to rid itself of any financial risk before it agrees to sub-licence a franchise in the A-League competition.
The NZS board meets in Auckland tomorrow to decide whether it will accept the Football Federation of Australia's (FFA) offer to hold the licence.
It then has until Thursday next week to present to the FFA viable owners to run a franchise in place of the failed New Zealand Knights.
NZS chief executive Graham Seatter said there was no question his board wanted to keep a licence in New Zealand but it had to be pragmatic about the risks involved before committing itself to the licence.
"There are a number of obligations that go with it," he told Radio Sport.
"For example, if a team doesn't turn up one week, there's nothing to go on television so there are considerable penalties around that.
"We're not going to put our organisation at risk in any way shape or form. We won't make a financial investment so we have to be sure that in a sub-licence agreement, in effect the risk is passed on to another entity. That's the most important aspect."
Seatter said the FFA had agreed to inject $2 million into the club on an annual basis -- " a pretty good start for a club to operate on. They're not going to get that money easily from anywhere else".
He said there were two bidders in contention -- from Wellington/Palmerston north and a group from Auckland. He wouldn't say if the Auckland group was the same one which withdraw from the original bidding process two weeks ago citing deadline issues.
"We're having good conversations with people," was all a coy Seatter would say.
"We need to make sure the entity we sub-licence to has got the finances and the backing and will be a going concern that can operate successfully."
FFA last month revoked the licence of the previous owners of the New Zealand Knights.
- NZPA
