The future of the League of Ireland is always a topic of discussion and it's even more pertinent this week with the release of the Conroy Report.
Commissioned by the FAI and compiled by Dublin's Euro 2020 bid leader Declan Conroy, we will be discussing some of the points made on Off The Ball's League of Ireland slot tonight (tune into the show from 7pm tonight).
You can read the report in full right here. But below are some of the key points and recommendations made in it with the relevant pages.
Prize Money
On Page 34, noting how prize money for clubs has decreased since 2007, Conroy recommends that increasing that pot would be a wise move to "provide a better balanced fees vs. reward equation".
Further back on Page 19, a table sets out how prize money is currently set and states that the overall fund is €340,500, with the Premier Division winner receiving €100,000.
Use of stadia
Facilities are an issue often raised under the banner of the domestic leagues, but Conroy also discusses the use of stadia for events other than football.
Stating that stadia are "underutilised as assets", the point is made that there is "scope existing to both host other events such as community festivals, concerts etc, and to use as an enticement for generating interest particularly from schools and children. These activities together with stadium tours, attendance at training sessions and other incentives to come to the facility can sweat the value of the asset more optimally than at present."
That's on Page 38 but also the potential use of the Aviva Stadium is raised later on Page 50 when it comes to ideas raised by broadcasters:
"Using the Aviva Stadium to host multiple SSE Airtricity League games (1st week of the season and one other weekend during the season?) is an innovative concept for the League and has potential for significant promotion and PR".
League structure
Arguably the headline point made in the report is the recommendation that the Premier Division should be reduced to 10 teams for 2017, down from its current 12 teams (Page 40).
Throughout the report, other models are also examined including franchise structures and a single top division.
However, the conclusion made is that a two-tier structure is best.
Promotion
Self-promoting the league is also discussed under many different headings. But one of the recommendations is the creation of "heroes".
While acknowledging that the instability of one-year contracts for players makes things difficult, Conroy does say: "Players are a key sales asset for the club and the League. More focus needs to go into developing “heroes” and personalities to be a core part of the marketing and promotion of the League going forward and the players who play a role in this need to be recognised."
TV rights
The issue of clubs being reluctant to have games televised due to the financial hit they have to take came up on Off The Ball last week, and TV rights is discussed in the report.
One example of the points made is: "In the context of the overall costs of running the League exceeding the revenues generated, compensating the clubs for televised games, while helping some clubs, would exacerbate the deficit already in place in terms of running the League. However, it is recommended that any future additional TV rights revenues achieved by exploiting new markets outside the
limitations of the current/existing TV contracts, be allocated to clubs."
For more on TV, head to page 49 of the report.
Negativity
"The game needs everyone from within to avoid being negative in public."
One interesting point raised is public negativity concerning the league and how a lack of positive sentiment about the domestic leagues impacts on clubs both financially and in other ways (Page 50-51).
Conroy suggests that the league needs to be tougher in defending itself and "talk itself up on a more regular basis".
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