The key for Auckland is where they play games and if they can break the tribal rubbish up here.
Personally I would be looking to go small and safe first up and look at a Mt Smart #2 or Bill McKinley Park size stadium and focus on getting out to all the Auckland markets.
Maybe take a leaf from the breakers and have a low cost home and hire a larger venue for when it's required (like against the Nix for example).
Obviously the main factor will be if they can be competitive.
You'd think a lot of lessons would have been learned. Question is- is there demand for it? Would have to go beyond club loyalties, but get those with club loyalties in.
Phoenix started with a bang with Ricki, Felipe and Daniel, Smeltzy as well as Tim Brown, Lochy, Ross Aloisi, Coveny and Paston. Leo came in a year later...
Have to find key players with broad appeal. Another lesson from the Breakers right? Thom Abercrombie, Kirk Penney and Cedric Jackson...Mika Vukona and Dillon Boucher.
You need to have the right focus and raison d'etre. The Phoenix? Rise from the ashes, miracles, against the odds, playing like fire...Felipe Wonder goal! and then Beckstravaganza. When I came down the first couple of times I had people asking me on the street or in a restaurant after the game what the score was...seemed like a point of Wellington pride.
It would need the right message, not just Auckland City demanding a place in the A-league IMO. Maybe even rather than trying to represent all of Auckland, it would have more character if it had some local suburb iconography- One Tree Hill, Rangitoto, Kauri, Mt Eden...Tamaki Bays...Tamaki United...Remeura Tractor Boys...
Would it be an Auckland franchise, a South-Eastern franchise, a North Shore franchise or a West Auckland franchise? The city doesn't really come together at all, with the exception of Eden Park...Be interesting to see if the 'Nix can exorcise the North Shore ghosts, but generally I really don't like that stadium. Not that great a viewing experience and quite a distance from large parts of Auckland.