The request came when South Coast Football bid chairman Eddy de Gabriele and director Bill Drossos met with the Football Federation Australia (FFA) feasibility committee in Sydney last night.

The FFA has requested a document detailing South Coast's team name, colours, financial model, budgets, revenue streams and geographical base, to be submitted in time for consideration at an FFA board meeting on June 3.

"It's serious time now - it's time for the community to get behind us," de Gabriele said last night.

"This is the first time they (the FFA) have asked us to put something in writing. Now it's time to put up or shut up."

If the expression of interest is accepted, the FFA will ask South Coast to submit a formal application for entry into the 2009-2010 competition, which will be considered later in the year.

If accepted, the South Coast franchise would need $5 million per annum for its first three seasons and $3.5 million thereafter to stay viable, Mr de Gabriele said.

The South Coast bid committee will start lobbying potential sponsors and investors next week.

South Coast football has received letters of intent pledging just over $1 million per season to date, Mr de Gabriele said.

He said he was confident the community would get behind the bid - and that the South Coast would have an A-League side in 2009-2010.

"Now is the time for us to go to the community and say we can put in a formal expression of interest," he said.

"The next month will tell us just how serious the community is about having an A-League team in the region."

South Coast is competing with at least three rival bids - Gold Coast, North Queensland Thunder and a consortium from western Sydney - for admission to the A-League.

The FFA was tight-lipped about where the other bids stood, Mr de Gabriele said.

He and Mr Drossos went into yesterday's meeting intending to ask for a provisional licence, but the FFA said an expression of interest had to be submitted first.