FAI deal: The more devoted of the Eircom League's supporters have tended to argue down the years that it should be viewed as a contender for the title of the nation's best kept secret.

After years of lamenting the minimal amount of television airtime afforded to the domestic game by the country's leading broadcasters, however, the fans' boat appeared to have come in yesterday as the FAI unveiled a deal with three stations that will bring live league and cup action to screens cross the country on an almost weekly basis for the middle of next month when the new season kicks off.

In a significant step forward for the association three broadcasters - RTÉ, Setanta Sports and TG4 - have committed themselves to broadcasting just short of 30 games in their entirety each season for the next five years. All but five of the 29 matches covered by the deal will go out live and each of the stations has an option to add to their roster of broadcasts in the event that the initial expansion goes well.

Interim FAI general secretary John Delaney described the new deal as "ground breaking" and "innovative", and predicted that it could play a major part in transforming the fortunes of the league over the coming years. "We've seen with other sports the extent to which increased television coverage increases awareness of the game and that's certainly what we are anticipating will happen here. I've always felt," he added, "that television rights hold the key to generating much wider investment in the game."

Delaney said that the money generated from the new agreement, though obviously modest by the scale of foreign football rights agreements, had allowed the association to increase the prize fund for the league next season by just over 300 per cent to some €400,000. The manner in which the money is to be divided up has yet to be decided, however, with representatives of the association and league due to meet next week with a view to hammering out an agreement by the following Monday.

"We're engaged with the league on the issue," said Delaney, "but we're open to whatever works." The issue is likely to prove acutely divisive, however, with the leading clubs set to press for the provision of substantially increased prize-money and compensation to those whose gate receipts are affected by the presence of television cameras.

Shelbourne, in particular, have been at the centre of a number of previous rows over payments in relation to this issue and the club's officials would be expected to strenuously oppose any suggestion of a more egalitarian carve up. The hope in Merrion Square will be that they and officials at the country's other leading clubs can be persuaded of the wider potential for this deal to dramatically improve the lot of the league collectively.

A major point in their favour is that all three stations involved have established a reputation for covering live sport well and their collective involvement presents the opportunity for the league to reach a hugely increased audience after years in which it has become increasingly squeezed by the growing amount of airtime devoted to overseas football and Gaelic games coverage.

Having agreed to broadcast a minimum of 10 and eight games respectively, Setanta and RTÉ have substantially increased their commitment to the domestic game but for TG4, which will carry 11 live matches this season, starting with the match between St Patrick's Athletic and Bohemians on March 25th, this is very much new territory. "It's our first involvement with domestic football all right," said Padhraic Ó Ciardha, "but to be fair it's the first time that domestic football has been available to us.

"It's an exciting prospect for us because it means that we will have sport to show through the summer and we're aware that there is huge interest in and support for the game throughout the country. When we started broadcasting the ladies' Gaelic football it would have raised an eyebrow or two, but that has been very good for us and, I like to think, we have been very good for it. We're confident that we will be able to say very much the same thing about this venture."

TG4 will carry seven league games and four FAI Cup games while RTÉ tally of eight will include the semi-finals and final of the cup. Setanta, meanwhile, will concentrate on the league with five live and five "as live" games. Bohemians' meeting with Shamrock Rovers on March 18th will be the first game to be broadcast live with RTÉ showing the match. TV3 will continue to screen its Monday night magazine programme and retain the right to broadcast two live games a year.

Delaney, meanwhile, said that the FAI hopes to be in a position to relocate its offices from Merrion Square to the new Sports Campus at Abbotstown with six to eight months if, as expected, the project gets government approval within the next couple of weeks. "I think it's clear that Merrion Square has outlived its usefulness at this stage and we're hopeful that things will move forward with Abbotstown very quickly over the next two weeks or so," he said. "If that's the case then we could be in a position to move quite quickly."