AUSTRALIA'S Asian Cup organisers have yet to make critical decisions over match venues in hosting cities for the tournament, which kicks off in January 2015, but they would like the A-League to go into a temporary shutdown for at least part of the three-week competition.

Michael Brown, the chief executive of the Local Organising Committee, yesterday said the tournament, which will pit 15 of Asia's top soccer nations against hosts Australia, would likely prosper more if it wasn't competing against domestic matches.

The AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 logo is unveiled during the preliminary draw and logo launch in Melbourne yesterday. Credit:Getty Images

The Asian Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world and organisers say it will showcase Australia and its soccer industry to a potential television audience of 2.5 billion.

It will cost some $75 million to stage, with the bulk of the cash - $61 million - coming from federal and state governments in a 50/50 split. The rest is expected to be generated by ticket sales to a cumulative audience of around 500,000, a minimum figure organisers expect.