However, the higher population and greater money available in Melbourne meant the VFL was the de facto highest level of competition in Australia, with the ability to attract the strongest players from interstate.

Many clubs were saved from bankruptcy only by the dividends they received from the $4,000,000 licence fees charged to Brisbane and West Coast, as well as the $4,000,000 earned when the Sydney Swans were sold to Dr Geoffrey Edelsten in 1985,[4] but these cash injections provided only temporary relief, and did nothing to address the ailing long-term viability of the clubs.

The Footscray Football Club had been in financial trouble throughout the 1980s, and it had faced pressure to stay afloat, investigating options including relocation to Brisbane as early as 1982.

[6] The club's location in Melbourne's working class inner western suburbs and the poor quality of facilities at its home ground at the Western Oval were hindering its ability to gain corporate support;[7] in fact, the ground's grandstand had been declared a fire hazard in 1988, and the club was already facing pressure to play its games elsewhere.

The Footscray Council had offered the club a package worth more than $1,600,000, which included a $600,000 direct cash injection, $400,000 to upgrade facilities at Western Oval, and its assistance to secure $600,000 in sponsorships,[8] but the league rejected this as another temporary solution which failed to address the root cause of its problems.

[8] It is believed that if the merger had not been announced, the VFL would have appointed an administrator within the week: Footscray would have been placed into liquidation, and the club would have folded.

[6] A set of proposed arrangements for the merger was negotiated with the VFL executive, which would have given the merged club a strong starting position for the future.

The key points of the proposal were:[8][11][12] Had the merger gone ahead, these arrangements could still have been amended, as they needed to be approved by a three-quarters majority of the remaining 12 clubs.

[20] Under the stay, the club needed to raise $1,500,000 (later increased to $1,800,000)[21] and prove its viability by 25 October to have its VFL licence restored.

The first grassroots fundraising event was a rally at the Western Oval on Sunday 8 October, which drew a crowd of 10,000 fans keen to save the club, and a total of $450,000 in donations was raised on that day alone.

Its fundraising efforts raised $1,100,000, it had consolidated its support from the local council, developed a business plan to return to delivering profits within three years, and had most significantly secured a three-year sponsorship deal worth between $1,000,000–1,500,000 with chemical giant I.C.I., which had a long history of operations in Melbourne's west and was a major employer in the area.

[29] The club ceased playing home games at the Western Oval in 1997, moving to Princes Park from the same year and then Docklands Stadium in 2000 as part of the league's grounds rationalisation, retaining the venue as its training and administrative base, and then later for its reserves and women's teams.

The club tried selling home games to Hobart and Canberra, but the ventures were neither financially successful nor supported by the AFL Commission.

[32][33] The effect of the failed Fitzroy Bulldogs merger on the Sunshine Football Club was more immediate: with Footscray surviving and enjoying renewed support from local businesses and fans in the western suburbs, Sunshine lost any realistic prospect of achieving the local support it needed to regain its place in the VFA for 1990.