There is little scope in a process of enlarging the competition to 12 next season and increasing it further by two teams the following season.
The FFA's new board is expected to announce an expansion of the A-League on December 12.
Six bids are in the running for inclusion in Australia's elite club competition.
The governing body has three serious options: (a) 12 teams with teams playing each other twice in 22 rounds; (b) 12 teams with teams playing each other three times in 33 rounds; and (c) 14 teams with teams playing each other twice in 26 rounds.
All three models would involve a finals series.
A fourth notion featuring the current 10 teams playing each other twice with marquee matches making up the leeway in a manufactured third round will hopefully be given the attention it deserves and tossed into the litter basket. These things should be left to the Americans.
The first two options have clear flaws.
A 12-team league with 22 rounds looks appealing but it simply does not provide enough game time for the competing teams, particularly those who do not reach the finals. That's more than half a year of inactivity.
A 12-team scenario with 33 rounds presents logistical and economic difficulties for Fox Sports.
The broadcaster is highly unlikely to agree to such a scenario since it costs an average of about $80,000 to broadcast an A-League match. It is money Fox would rather spend on AFL and NRL which rate much better than the A-League.
Which brings us to the 14-team set-up.
Twenty-six matches in a regular season plus a finals series comprising six teams (which would not be disproportionate in a 16-team league) appears to be the way to go.
FFA chief executive David Gallop has said that a 14-team competition would be easier to put in place than any 12-team alternative.
And Fox, who are reportedly in favour of a 22-round competition featuring 132 matches, might be persuaded to show 182 matches over 26 rounds instead of the 198 matches a competition of 33 rounds would present.
If costs are a deciding issue, this might be an opportunity for stakeholders to examine the merits of Fox not showing every single match ... which might make a few more people actually go to a game or two.
I am sure that even the most ardent of A-League followers would live without watching some of the less important matches in the latter part of the season between bottom teams that have little to play for, especially since there is no relegation at the moment.
Head office should adopt a 'nothing ventured nothing gained' policy and be brave enough to finally grant the game's stakeholders their wish.
The football family has been clamouring for change for a number of years and the game has reached a point where expansion - more so than promotion and relegation - has become the top priority.
FFA were burned and embarrassed when they gave a licence to North Queensland Fury and Gold Coast United, who did not quite cut it in the league and in no time they were gone.
FFA are keen not to be caught in the same trap and have made proper due diligence on the ambitious entities that are seeking a place in the sun.
So fans at large would expect the choice of which teams to play in the A-League to be not only right but one that will be seen as a game changer.
Fourteen teams and 26 rounds would eliminate the anomaly of the current format whereby teams play each other twice at home and once away in one season and the other way round in the next season.
This system is slightly unrepresentative of the teams' strengths because premiership-winning clubs could be favoured by having two matches at home and one away against their major contenders.
For this reason it is wrong for critics of the finals system to claim that the fairest way to determine a championship is by declaring the teams finishing first past the post as true champions.
But I digress.
A 14-team competition would put the A-League in line with other championships in the region, provide our clubs, players and supporters with more matches, reduce the never-ending off-season and give the league a semblance of a proper and equitable contest.
