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Cash No Issue For Vic Bid

Jon Ritson

VICTORIA'S bid for a second A-League franchise insist their figures add up with the money in place to ensure a sustainable success story.
Southern Cross FC will meet Football Federation Australia chiefs on Monday and are confident they've ticked all the boxes needed for A-League entry.

The Southern Cross name emerged from a franchise idea initially developed by South Melbourne FC which will be a minority partner in the franchise.

Bid spokesman Jim Mellas told au.fourfourtwo.com today: “We had an initial meeting with the FFA and came out of that feeling very positive.

“We think Southern Cross is an iconic Australian name, a name Victoria can identify with. We are not going to limit ourselves in terms of a geographical area (ie just Melbourne itself) and we feel we can achieve broad-based support.”

The FFA’s first question is always going to be ‘show me the money’ and Mellas says the bid team will be able to satisfy that issue.

He said: “We have enough commitments from investors to satisfy that point. We believe our figures stack up with a five-year plan that we will present.”

Earlier today the Southern Cross bid released a statement which outlined just how and where its A-League club would develop.

A bid statement read: “The consortium confirmed to the FFA that all financial, infrastructure and football operations requirements were in place and that the bid is commercially viable, compelling and broad based.

“The cornerstone of the Southern Cross FC bid is to utilise the soon-to-be redeveloped infrastructure at the new state athletics centre based at Albert Park.

“This $50m redevelopment which has been fully funded by the Victorian state government in their state budget will make the Southern Cross FC facilities the envy of any sporting club in Australia, rivalling facilities available to other sporting codes.

“The new facilities will include football administration and operations facilities, world class gymnasium, training and sports science facilities, a 15,000 seat stadium with additional training pavilion for juniors, womens’ and youth leagues along with multiple synthetic and natural grass training pitches, a restaurant and retail precinct.

"Match day games will be played at the new Olympic Park stadium. If successful, the new Southern Cross FC team will enter the A-league for 2010/2011.”

The bid team is set for further discussions with FFA chiefs before Monday's presentation.

Mellas said: "We have done our research and as I have said, we believe we have a bid that offers something to football fans in Victoria."

Southern Cross is battling for an A-League spot alongside bids from the South Coast, Canberra and potentially Tasmania among others.