The Welnix group could walk away from the Wellington Phoenix in the event of a players' strike, Phoenix's boss has warned.

The Professional Footballers Association (PFA) and Football Federation Australia (FFA) remain locked in a pay dispute, ahead of the start of the next A-League season on October 8. The PFA wants an increase to the salary cap, which the FFA and the 10 A-League clubs argue isn't affordable.

Australia's women's team, the Matildas, rejected a 10 per cent pay rise from the FFA last week, which led to the cancellation of two scheduled matches against the United States.

The PFA, FFA and A-League clubs are due to meet again on September 21 and 22 in an attempt to broker a deal. But strike action is said to be a real option for the players, with PFA chief executive Adam Vivian saying that "as it currently stands, we certainly wouldn't take that off the table."

Phoenix general manager David Dome doubted it would come to that, but said any industrial action on this side of the Tasman needed to be viewed in the context that Welnix's five-year A-League agreement would soon expire.

"This is the last year of our licence and if the PFA and the players were going to withdraw their labour I think our owners would turn around around and say: hang on, we've been funding you this whole time, we're not making any money out of this, why would we continue," Dome said.

"Then you would have 22 players out of a job. Our owners would walk away [saying] we've done our five years, that's what we signed up for, it's not a sustainable competition, the players are getting greedy, we don't want to take it on.

"That's a very real possibility with us and I think it's the same with other clubs in Australia as well."

Dome doesn't think the Phoenix players "are in that space" where they would consider a strike. But the potential for it remains, despite the justifications Dome raised on behalf of the cash-strapped clubs.

"Essentially the PFA is trying to lock in a [salary cap] increase of around $3 million across all 10 clubs," he said.

"There's only one club that regularly makes money in the A-League, which is the Melbourne Victory. Every other club loses money.

"This year, season 2015/16, the combined losses of all the A-League clubs will be AUS$17 million. That's big money."

The Newcastle Jets are already being run by the FFA, after not being able to meet their financial obligations under previous owner Nathan Tinkler, while the Brisbane Roar are struggling. Dome said other clubs were "one bad year away" from going under.

But what the others all have that the Phoenix does not is an A-League licence through to 2034. Negotiations between Welnix chairman Rob Morrison and the FFA are ongoing, but yet to yield a licence extension.

"The FFA want us in the competition, they need us in the competition. We're a solid club, we've got an excellent governance structure, we've got an excellent group of owners and the FFA continually say to us that the Phoenix is the club that gives them the least concern," Dome said.

"It just comes down to a philosophical viewpoint that some in the FFA hierarchy have that they are subsidising New Zealand football, and by that I mean New Zealand Football with a capital F, by giving us a licence and the central grant which funds the players."

Dome said that if anyone could broker a compromise and extension, it would be Morrison.