you have just realised this is what it as about?. Nothing more than a shakedown
Ah, no, it's been my view from the get go that this is part of the FFA thinking. Just my first post on the subject, because I've not seen anyone put the metric on it in the same detail.
But I don't think it's "just a shake down". I think the FFA are stupid enough to actually believe this crap, and that they can plant another Sydney team into the competition.
You can negotiate thinking the other guys are a bunch of hard balling sharks. But half the time they just turn out to be idiots that badly misjudge things and behave irrationally. I think Morrison and co's biggest risk in this is that the other guy is an idiot.