The FAI's finances look set to be further boosted by over £4 million in the next five years under the terms of a deal currently being concluded with British media group BskyB.
The company, which holds the British broadcasting rights to the association's home internationals, is hoping to extend that deal from the end of the present World Cup campaign until 2006.
It has also expressed a strong interest in purchasing The Soccer Show for re-broadcasting on its own network with the possibility of some games, most notably the Harp Lager FAI Cup final, being included in the package.
The most lucrative part of the deal from the FAI's point of view is, of course, Sky's offer of a reported £3.7 million for a four-year extension equivalent to over £900,000 per season, an improvement on the terms of the current two-year agreement which covers the present qualifying campaign.
The amounts involved are estimates, however, as it is believed that the new contract allows for a basic annual figure after which additional fees would be made available on the basis of the number of games played.
There is also a mechanism under which the association would benefit substantially in the event that it drew England or other opposition deemed to be attractive from Sky's point of view.
The station, meanwhile, has offered an initial £100,000 sterling per season for The Soccer Show, a figure that would rise annually over the five years. The programme is produced in-house by the association at present with some outside technical assistance. It has a budget of around £450,000 per season with roughly a third of that coming each from RTE, a sponsorship deal with 7up and the association itself.
The sale to Sky, which is said to be happy with the quality of a programme earmarked for one of its subscription sports channels, would more or less enable the association to break even on its production.
There are also suggestions that the company is interested in broadcasting selected domestic matches, although the cup final might be the only one initially selected. There are believed to be some reservations on the part of Sky regarding the quality of facilities within the game here.
In a separately proposed deal, meanwhile, BskyB have indicated an interest in taking over the FAI's somewhat dormant website. According to the company, which already runs one of Britain's largest sports related sites, it would provide a budget of around £350,000 per annum to maintain the site and buy in content.
Both of the Sky proposals were discussed at last Friday's meeting of the association's Board of Management in Dublin but after some clarification was sought on the detail of the offers a decision on whether to proceed was postponed until next month.
The two will be discussed again on April 6th when it is expected that both are likely to be ratified by the organisation's directors.
It was confirmed yesterday that the FAI Harp Lager Cup will resume this weekend with the outstanding third-round ties as well as the quarter-final fixtures that were postponed from the original weekend of March 3rd/4th due to the foot-and-mouth scare, writes Ian O'Riordan.
The National League also resumes on Sunday, with Derry City facing UCD and Bray Wanderers facing Finn Harps in the Premier Division.
Two third-round ties in the cup have yet to be decided, the first of which will take place on Friday when St Patrick's Athletic host Longford Town. Dundalk against Portmarnock, originally postponed because of a fixture row, has been set for Sunday at Oriel Park. The quarter-final date involving the winners of those two ties has yet to be confirmed.
The first two quarter-finals involving Kilkenny City against Bohemians and Cobh Ramblers against Waterford United will take place on Sunday, while the third game between Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers now goes ahead on Monday at Tolka Park.
That game remains an all-ticket affair and a statement from Tolka Park yesterday advised all supporters that tickets must be purchased in advance. Tickets previously purchased for the postponed date remain valid, and the game will not be televised live as was originally the case.
FAI Cup Refixtures
Third round - Friday: St Patrick's Athletic v Longford Town, Richmond Park, 7.45, (D O'Hanlon); Sunday: Dundalk v Portmarnock FC, Oriel Park, 2.0 (E Barr).
Quarter-finals - Sunday: Kilkenny City v Bohemians, Buckley Park, 3.0 (H Byrne); Cobh Ramblers v Waterford United, St Colman's Park, 3.0, (J Breen); Monday: Shelbourne v Shamrock Rovers, Tolka Park, 7.45, (J Feighery); TBC: Portmarnock/Dundalk v St Patrick's Athletic/Longford Town.
