after the announcement of bids to join the a-league were announced in 2016 by tasmania and south melbourne, there were discussions about whether canberra should bid again. jeff williamson formed the current canberra a-league bid team and began investigating the business case for canberra to enter the a-league. confirmation of the new canberra a-league bid came from capital football when football federation australia (ffa) gave indications that they intended to expand the a-league by at least two teams. in the middle of negotiations surrounding a new broadcast deal with a mix of pay and free to air operators, the ffa approached its broadcast partners in an effort to gain an understanding of where they would want a-league expansion to occur. football federation australia announced on 28 february 2017 that they would not be expanding due to the current a-league model not being able to cope with an expanded 12 team league. speculation of an expansion of the a-league continued with bids from other cities being announced.