Allow me to quote myself:
I wonder how much has changed since 2012?
https://www.theroar.com.au/2012/02/24/a-league-club...
"The Crawford Report long ago demanded that the A-League should be run independently of the FFA and, crucially, collaborate to collectively exploit the game’s key commercial assets, backed up by the more recent Smith Report. But this is where direct comparisons with the AFL and NRL’s independent commissions are difficult and the FFA needs to retain an element of control.
The AFL and NRL don’t have multiple national teams playing in major senior, junior competitions across both sexes. The A-League needs to be married to the Socceroos to some extent to feed off their commercial success – to a far greater extent than in England where the English Premier League can stand on its own independently given its financial might relative to the A-League.
Only the FFA can help do that and provide some middle ground between the national team and league, so club owners, who require some representation and meaningful role in A-League governance, are not left totally to their own devices yet can feed off the game’s most valuable asset – its national team."
And I said earlier:
The interests of the A-League and FFA are not identical. The league needs to have financially solid clubs fielding decent teams playing interesting football that is seen by a lot of people, but they do not need to care if such clubs are across town, or the ditch unless. Otherwise we would not have Perth in the league either. Obviously the league needs to have a broadcasting deal that includes income from games not covered by the broadcaster (FOX), but I am sure a similar problem already exists in Super Rugby etc.