If all things are equal, then the next team to join the A-League should be the least likely, and least expected. If FFA are honest about their commitment to expansion then a bid this good is difficult to knock back.

Indeed the only substantive concern is whether Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman will put his money where his mouth is and build the stadium the team needs, and deserves. But that's to be sorted down the track.

In the meantime, as talk of expanding the competition morphs from fiction to fact, it may surprise many that arguably the most persuasive case to become the 11th team – from next season – has come from the margins of the game.

Tasmania may have a long football history (there's still a fevered debate whether a game played in Hobart in 1879 was in fact the first football match played in Australia), but it's largely been an unremarkable one. Just 10 Socceroos have come from the Apple Isle, the national team has never played there, and Tasmania has never had a team at national league level. Backwater? Let's just say it's always been a long way from the centre, in every sense. But suddenly things are on the move. In a big way.

Sometime in the next week, the Tasmanian bid will be presented formally to the FFA. Not to join at some indeterminate point in the future, but now. All the ducks are in a row. There's no feasibility study required (done five years ago), no letters of support needed from key levels of government (done), no due diligence required (the major investors have already been involved in the A-League), no need to find a home ground (North Hobart Oval), no searching for a training centre (arranged). If this bid came from, say, southern Sydney, the FFA would be biting their arm off.

The cornerstone, of course, is that two wealthy former Melbourne Victory shareholders, Harry Stamoulis and Robert Belteky, will put up most of the money. Just as important is the fact that David Clarkson, one of the few Tasmanians to forge a long career in the NSL, is a key organiser. There's skin in this one. Stamoulis and Belteky see the value in having a team in Tasmania even though they're Victorians. Why? Because they're both passionate about the game. Passionate in the way that counts. Rival bids would kill for investors of this stature.

So the finance is there, and much more. Hobart City Council has provided tangible support by offering North Hobart Oval at a generous rent, South Hobart FC have offered their facilities at Darcy Street and Wellesley Oval as a training base, while Federal MP Andrew Wilkie is believed to be so enthusiastic that he'll find the $12 million needed to install temporary seating, improve floodlighting and upgrade broadcast and corporate facilities to bring North Hobart up to the required standards. With its location, its vista and its history, North Hobart Oval would easily become the most atmospheric ground in the A-League.

Beneath all this, the game is ready to blossom. Since the failed Tasmania United bid five years ago, a statewide league has been re-established, and grassroots participation has exploded to 14,000 players. Three Tasmanians – Jerrad Tyson (Western Sydney Wanderers), Andy Brennan (Newcastle Jets) and Josh Hope (Melbourne Victory) – are on the books of A-League clubs.

In recent years South Hobart have proved competitive in the national NPL play-offs, while Devonport City's exploits in this year's FFA Cup captured imagination around the country. Finally, Tasmania is part of the conversation.

So here's the chance to capitalise, with one key rider. There's no rectangular stadium of a professional standard in the state. North Hobart is perfect in the short term, but ultimately the game needs more.

Hodgman and a government that routinely decries its structural economic handicaps can make a concrete contribution to their own cause by building a boutique stadium – most likely as part of a new "Home of Football" at a greenfield site near Hobart airport – in order to secure the long-term future of the A-League team. That's an A-League team that can provide career opportunities and economic incentives for Tasmanians, and that can promote the state around the country, but more importantly to a global audience, especially Asia. The state government needs to back that.

For the FFA, of course, there are different perspectives. With a population of 500,000, Tasmania is not the biggest untapped market for the A-League if commercial and broadcast measurements are the only benchmark. But if that's the case, we won't be seeing any regional teams joining the competition. Disaster.

So here's a bid that covers the bases that truly count, which grows the footprint of the competition, and which is ready to go. Oh, and it would get the jump on the AFL, which has long taken Tasmania for granted. Perfect timing and a compelling reason for the FFA to be bold.