THE NEWCASTLE Jets remain on the hunt for a new owner, but that hasn't stopped the A-League from expanding to new frontiers.
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The Australian Professional Leagues (APL) will announce expansion plans for Canberra and Auckland on Wednesday as they begin the search for investors to back the teams before joining the competition in 2024-25.
Meanwhile, the Jets continue to be bankrolled by the owners of four other clubs - an arrangement that has been in place since Chinese businessman Martin Lee had his licence stripped in January 2021.
APL chief executive Danny Townsend told the Newcastle Herald in December that they were "pretty close to finalising" a sale of the club,
Confirmation of the national capital as expasion location ends a 14-year mission and two failed attempts to relaunch professional men's soccer in Canberra, and comes 22 years after the Canberra Cosmos went bust in the National Soccer League.
Michael Caggiano - the bid leader from the most recent expansion campaign in 2018 - has been engaged to help the APL find financial backers, build on the 9000 members he had signed up and tap into the sponsorship network he has been cultivating over the past five years.
Townsend, who met ACT government officials last month, is convinced it's a recipe for success and is confident the Canberra team will have a major investor by the end of June.
Caggiano will work from Sydney with the APL to lock in the 18-month journey to the first season, as well as meeting with Canberra stakeholders.
"This is going to be a team built by Canberrans for Canberrans at the end of the day," Townsend said.
"That's an important position for us to take."
"It's not one that has been done in the expansion process. With all things you learn along the way and how to do things better or optimise the outcome.
"That's certainly how we're going about things in Canberra.
"If you look at the original [expansion] criteria, which was serving under-served football populations that have pent-up demands for football. We think Canberra and Auckland certainly have those on all the metrics."
James Gardiner
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
