Build more football specific stadiums
While Suncorp Stadium holds 52,500, Brisbane Roar averaged 8,650 last season. That's 43,850 empty seats, or 83.5 per cent of the stadium. It didn't help on the pitch either as the club narrowly avoided the wooden spoon in ninth place.

"Nothing kills a sport more than a small crowd in the vacuous stadium," says Gary Hopkins, author of Star-Spangled Soccer: The Selling, Marketing and Management of Soccer in the USA. "MLS has spent the past 10 years getting its teams into 'correctly sized' stadiums, around 18,000 to 30,000 in size, and out of NFL stadiums. It now has 10 stadiums with more to come. Not that they had any option in the past but putting 20,000 crowds in 90,000 seat NFL stadiums very nearly killed the league as core fans were turned off by the lack of atmosphere."

"The old NASL, featuring Pele, Beckenbauer and company, played mostly in large NFL stadiums in which they weren't the primary tenant," says Beau Dure author of Long-Range Goals: The Success Story of Major League Soccer. "That's expensive, and the atmosphere
is generally poor.

"MLS started out the same way - stadiums don't just spring up overnight. But over time, most teams have built a place of their own. They may rent it out for concerts, American high school football games and so forth, but they get the revenue and control the scheduling.

"The process has been difficult in many cities for political reasons, as they are often unwilling to invest the slightest bit of money for infrastructure or land deals and typically, the club pays the cost of the actual construction."

The arrival of Melbourne Heart at AAMI Stadium, which they will share alongside Melbourne Victory, is a vital development for the game in this country. Next to join the league is Sydney Rovers. With 12,000 Sydney FC fans rattling around the 45,500 seater SFS every week, striking a similar deal in the Harbour City is important.

Anyone who saw Fowler's Perth Glory debut in front of over 16,000 in the pumping 20,500 capacity nib Stadium can attest to the benefits. This is paired with the Perth stadium's 2004 redevelopment, which saw it shift from an oval into a football friendly rectangular shape.

Keep expanding (with caution)
In July 2008, a bid for an A-League side in Townsville was granted by the FFA. The man behind the franchise was Don Matheson, a local businessman, and his club would be North Queensland Fury. After a single season the club was said to be losing $50,000 a week and up to $6m in debt, prompting Matheson to walk away, leaving the FFA to pick up the pieces both financially and organisationally.

How on earth was Matheson given a licence to a franchise that he could leave after a single season? Matheson will claim he lost his fair share of coin from the ill-conceived and brief venture, but that's hardly the point.

"It is hard to get an MLS franchise," says Paul Barber, CEO of new MLS franchise Vancouver Whitecaps, who will enter the league next season. "They don't hand them out easily or cheaply - it is a massive, massive commitment. Not just financially either, you should see the bid book we put together to get this franchise in the first place.

"You have to go into a huge amount of detail on what our market was going to be like, how we were going to promote the sport, how we were going to bring fans into the stadium, how we were going to get sponsors, broadcasters, how we would run it from a customer service and community point of view.

"You have to credit MLS for the cautious manner in which the league has expanded, they could have had 30 franchises if they wanted. They could have had two divisions five years ago, but they have resisted that to keep the league financially stable. Growing steadily and slowly is a more sustainable model."

Barber says that due to the tens of millions of dollars of investment that has gone into landing the franchise, owners are in for the long-term as gaining a return is not an overnight plan.

The MLS launched in 1996 with 10 teams and extended to 12 teams two years later. But in 2001 the league had to trim back to its original 10 team format with Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion folding. It wasn't until 2005, nine years after its formation that it added franchises again and went back to 12 sides. In contrast the A-League will move to 13 teams next season, in just its seventh year.

This probably works as a two-pronged caveat for the FFA - new franchises need to be introduced steadily and by people who have a long-term vision for the club. With Sydney FC underperforming in a fans recruitment perspective (considering they hail from Australia's biggest city), you have to fear for the introduction of Sydney Rovers at this stage.

Get star backing
FourFourTwo ran its first ever 'Football Rich List' back in March 2009. We revealed some $11.5bn of worth within the 50 wealthiest people in Australian football. At the top of the tree were owners like Frank Lowy, Clive Palmer and David Traktovenko. Also part of that 50 were 13 players - the usual suspects of Kewell, Cahill, Neill, etc. - the guys who have taken advantage of the lucrative European football pay-day.

Many have flirted with potentially backing an A-League side, with Neill the most serious in his formal bid for the second Sydney team license. His attempts proved unsuccessful, as a bid led by businessman Ian Rowden, now known as Sydney Rovers, won the 12th licence. That was a shame as Neill's investment could have been a landmark moment for the A-League. Luckily Tim Cahill has now been rumoured to be interested in investing; let's hope he succeeds where his country's captain failed.

Having the right figurehead can be important. While having the richest man in the country in Clive Palmer backing the Gold Coast is encouraging, he has built a bullish and largely unlikable public persona that has alienated the Glitter Strip community. An inaugural season crowd average of just over 5,000 seemed to prove this. Even the indifferent Russell Crowe, co-owner of NRL club South Sydney, musters a more popular reaction wherever he goes.

Vancouver Whitecaps have amongst their backers NBA star and former MVP (Most Valuable Player - think, player of the year) Steve Nash backing the club.

"Steve's involvement is beneficial in two ways, the financial backing is obviously important, but we also get Steve's profile, which is phenomenal," says Barber. "Whenever he does anything, like promotion for the club, it gets a disproportionately high amount of coverage because of who he is."

Barber said Nash is an icon in North America and is a critical part of the Vancouver Whitecaps sell. "With someone like Steve you get the
whole package - financial support and a massive profile."

Nash isn't a stand alone. Mexican-American former boxer Oscar De La Hoya owns 25 per cent of Houston Dynamo, comedian Drew Carey part owns Seattle Sounders FC and most recently former player and now Honorary President Pele announced New York Cosmos were returning to join the MLS.

The startling rub about the idea of getting star backing is that it now seems to be the perfect time for such support to be fourth-coming for the A-League. The 'Golden Generation' of Socceroos are all nearing retirement, with many likely to return to our shores looking for the next challenge of their careers. Coaching awaits some of them, while others will be hungry to stay in the game in other capacities.

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