The FFA are playing a dirty blinder here. They've conceded nothing so far, instead trying to get Marshall and the focus on NZF and the NZ market. That whole statement is designed to keep their hands clean and is neat in that it repeats an already established piece of rubbish and then opens up new lines of attack/problems with stakeholders
1 - The Sky deal. FFA negotiated it. And yet it's up to Nix to talk to them? Nah mate, you shark on your own floor - you don't make someone else clean it up.
If the Nix are talking to other broadcasters, what does that mean for the Sky deal? And how are the FFA getting out of the current deal.
2 - NZF. The FFA want NZF to fund the Nix, therefore partly funding the FFA? It'd basically slave the NZF to the FFA and there'd still be no concrete certainty that at some point down the line the FFA don't just bin the Nix off. I know that sounds awful, but it's the reality of not having the Nix in the NZF - they've got no reason to keep the Nix if they can get something going across the Tasman.
3 - Expanding the brand. Awwwwww shark. I reckon Lowy, Gallop and that see NZ as ONE market, 4,000,000 strong and can't understand why taking the Nix on tour like some sort of Harlem Globetrotters is a terrible idea. Here's where the relative population of Aussie and NZ come in, eh? Sydney's got two teams and 4,000,000 people and pull in a reasonable amount of fans. Why can't NZ do that? Er, because it's two islands, one country and a hell of a lot of different regions.
Even if there's 15k in the RoF on Friday, even if WCC get on board, even if NZF chime in... I reckon there'll be suddenly more conditions and more things for Nix to resolve. This is a fudgeing shakedown and no mistake.