Rule #1 of selling something is to try and get as much money as possible for the item you are selling whilst that item is still relevant. Welnix have something that other consortiums want so they would be silly to not talk to these parties whilst their licence is still worth something.
Think of it like a Supermarket selling bread. When the bread is fresh the store can command a higher price for it. As it geta closer to its used by date they have to reduce the price and risk making a loss on their investment.
I do not blame Welnix for talking to other parties at all. The FFA have basically cornered them into playing this hand by imposing unfair metrics on only the Phoenix, when the rest of the league is in rapid decline. I also do not believe the Welnix overlords are stupid either. They realise that if they could somehow offload some ir all of their licence to a consortium who is bidding for one of the 2 expansion licences in 2019, then the FFA do not benefit from this in any way as they would firstly lose the licence fee that the new consortium would have paid as well as having to find another 2 financially stable bidders for the new licences.
And lets face it, the FFA's track record of selecting financially stable licencees is pretty fudgeing poor to be honest.