The race is on to secure Auckland a place in the expanding A-League football competition and Kiwi officials believe no stone should be left unturned to get it over the line - including a new "downtown stadium".
The Australian Professional Leagues announced this morning Auckland as well as Canberra their preferred markets for the next round of expansions ahead of the 2024-25 season, beating out 11 other contenders hoping to join the football competitions.
New Zealand Professional Footballers Association GM Jacob Spoonley told 1News this afternoon the announcement was "an evolutionary step for professional football" in Aotearoa that everyone should be getting behind.
"This means a derby twice a year if not three times, that is hugely exciting," Spoonley said.
"It creates a commercial asset that will draw a lot of interest. it creates a spectacle for fans, players and coaches to work towards and it allows us a regular opportunity to celebrate football in this country."
Should a franchise be finalised, it wouldn't be Auckland's first appearance in the A-League having previously been represented by the Football Kingz first and more recently the New Zealand Knights - a football club that became defunct after two seasons due to low attendance numbers, poor on-field performance and the lack of domestically developed players.
Spoonley said such issues wouldn't be a worry this time around with plenty of recent examples to prove it.
"We've got to a point now where we are creating footballers that can play at the A-League level and then also go beyond," he said.
"If you look at the likes of your Marko Stamenics, your Joe Bells, Matt Garbetts; these are all players who have circumnavigated the Wellington Phoenix and they've gone across to Europe and they've been successful so, from a player development point of view we're ready."
APL CEO Danny Townsend agreed, saying he was not only confident in Auckland as a market but his organisation as a an overseer.
"The proposition is very different to what we've had in the past," Townsend said.
"I think the difference is, and why we're going about expansion this way, is we the APL, we know how to run good football clubs and run them well from the start."
'It makes sense to look at a downtown stadium'
With that said, Spoonley believes what needs to become the focus of the pitch is where the new club would be located and he had a clear, albeit potentially costly, picture in mind.
"This opens up conversations about a purpose-built stadium and where potentially that could be because we need to connect our footballing communities for this club to be successful.
"It's a discussion for them to have, but I think another A-League franchise - and one for Auckland - does warrant the conversation about where they will be based. They need to be next to a transport hub, they need to be next to retail and hospitality and so it makes sense to look at a downtown stadium."
In the meantime, Spoonley said Mt Smart Stadium appeared to be a frontrunner to host home games for the new club although Eden Park and North Harbour Stadium had also been mentioned.
Regardless, Spoonley added the pitch needed to gain momentum and quickly to be finalised.
"Canberra is ready to go - they've been aiming for an A-League franchise for around about 10 years now [but] Auckland's in a slightly different position where this is going to be a bit more of a sprint in order to make that 2024/25 start line," he said.
"So APL and the potential bidders or those that would invest in the club need to sit down and have discussions because we don't have much runway to be successful in that 24/25 season."
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