Football Federation Tasmania CEO Mike Palmer has today responded to the rumours of a pending bid to place an A-League franchise in Tasmania.
It had been reported through EON Sports Radio that former Melbourne Victory director and property mogul Harry Stamoulis was leading a consortium looking to bring an A-League side to Tasmania.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon Palmer confirmed he met with representatives of the consortium for an informal chat in the middle of August but that was as far as FFT's involvement in any bid went.
"The meeting was simply a case of the consortium informing FFT of their intention to pursue the matter with FFA. It was really a courtesy, just to be polite and let us know."
"I think they were looking at the economics of a team in Tasmania... They still had a lot of work to do, they were going away to do their due diligence and get an accounting firm to have a look at numbers."
Palmer suggested that as far as he was aware the creation of a Tasmanian franchise was some way from becoming a reality but he acknowledged Tasmania's chances of having an A-League side had improved.
"Certainly the chances must have improved, because we were at zero before."
"There is a lot of water to go under the bridge yet but let's add 2 and 2 together to get to 10. The A-League have said that they are looking to go from 10-12 teams so clearly there is a window of opportunity there in the next 2-3 years."
Palmer has consistently said throughout his tenure that he would be supportive of a Tasmanian A-League bid but that it would require a white knight or strong financial backer to become a reality as the Member Federations play no role in the ownership of A-League sides.
Expansion rumours have been put into overdrive recently after FFA Chief Executive David Gallop indicated at the A-League season launch that expansion to a 12 team competition would happen "Sooner rather than later." claiming "Ten teams is not enough to have in our competition."
With other destinations such as Canberra, Wollongong, Geelong, New Zealand, Townsville, Brisbane all rumoured to be potential locations for further expansion, there are no guarantees that FFA would green light a Tasmanian bid but Palmer suggested that potential owners were more important than the location.
"It's a very different proposition to the AFL, where they decide where they want a team. This is very contingent on somebody with money wanting a team and that drives where it will be."
Palmer hosed down suggestions of a new rectangular stadium being build to host the side however.
"I noted there was comments about building a rectangular stadium and all sorts of things but that seems a million miles away from the conversation I had. The conversation I had was more an exploratory one so I'm not sure how we got from there to reports they were going to build a big stadium."
Football Federation Tasmania President Sean Collins noted the Board was aware of the situation but focusing on participation growth and development remained the priority for FFT.
“FFT is willing to work with anyone to pursue the best interests of football in Tasmania however our focus remains on the development of facilities and infrastructure for youth footballers. We watch with interest any progress around A-League content in Tasmania.”