Maybe I've missed something amongst all these posts. I probably have.
But in Australia, why on earth would anyone/club/franchise/group of smart business people - see value in buying the Phoenix licence?
It has virtual zero brand value in Australia.
The FFA have just given the green light to expansion, for 2 new teams - sure is not a given, with all governance issues going on!.
However unless you gave yourself very little chance of being one of those new expansion teams, why buy the Nix licence and relocate a team, with all extra "baggage" that would entail. Much much better to start your own identity from scratch.
Sounds bunch of shark.
I think most of the scuttlebutt is that it would be just buying the licence and starting from scratch elsewhere. The Phoenix brand would be done. The idea being the Nix licence would be cheaper to acquire than the two expansion licences, whether correct or not.