GOLD Coast City president Peter Williamson believes the tourist strip could sustain an A-League team.

Williamson’s comments follow Football Federation Australia chief Steven Lowy’s suggestion yesterday that he is in favour of introducing a promotion/relegation system into the A-League.

While stressing the move was not imminent, Lowy said adding teams to the current competition was discussed at last week’s FFA board meeting.

He said all expansion options were on the table given the national competition could not reach its full potential with just 10 clubs.

“I’d like to think we will see it at some point,” he said.

“We’ve got structural issues, we’ve got 10 licences out there and they’ve got licences for (18 more years).

“We would encourage more investment in to the (current) clubs and to encourage investment in the clubs you also need to give some sort of longevity and certainty to their tenure.

“But I wouldn’t suggest that just that on its own would ­exclude the concept of promotion and relegation.

“We all love the game, we all understand the importance of promotion and relegation.”

Williamson reiterated previous claims that a national competition licence could work here – but only if the soccer community embraced it.

“It is not pie in the sky to me,” the hard-nosed Williamson said of a potential two-tier national series.

“I believe we’ll have another A-League side on the Gold Coast before I die (he is 66).

“I can see it happen – it’s possible within five years.”

At this stage the minimum cost of operating an A-League franchise is $5 million a year.

Williamson, who took Palm Beach Sharks to the NPL Queensland competition ­before a name change to Gold Coast City FC, said the current budget is $600,000 a year.

“The only A-League models that have worked are the ones supported totally by the community,” he said. “We have 20,000 people involved in the sport on a week-by-week basis on the Gold Coast.

“An A-League club is the ­ultimate target of Gold Coast City. There’s a proposal on the table at the moment to involve the business community and all football clubs and supporters to share in the administration of the club.

“For that to happen we have a number of hurdles to jump. The first is getting the whole footy community to support and get behind it. That just doesn’t mean bums on seats.”

Asked about the failure of Clive Palmer’s Gold Coast United, which lasted only four years, Williamson said: “The first London Bridge burnt down but it couldn’t stop them building another one.”