Limerick’s trip to face UCD in the SSE Airtricity League First Division on Sunday will be broadcast live on FAI TV and available to view through the FAI’s You Tube Channel.
This follows on from a series of live online broadcasts from the Continental Tyres Women’s National League this season.
Live streaming of all matches in the Premier and First division has taken place since the start of the season via Trackchamp following a deal signed in December with the FAI.
They have been only to an international audience however due to rights issues around the local broadcast of domestic games.
It is likely that the next renegotiation of rights for the domestic game will introduce elements of streaming for matches not broadcast live on the mainstream channels.
Trackchamp are in the first year of a four year deal having worked with the Northern Ireland Football League over the past two years.
They emerged from an international tender process which looked at a number of different potential suppliers and what they could do to broaden the appeal and the revenue of the domestic league.
It is a joint venture between the German betting and gaming giant BWin and tracking technology leaders Chyanhego.
Controlling the live stream is a way which we believe will become the norm for sports organisations in years to come and is a model being successfully followed by Major League Baseball in the US, with the NFL in a hybrid fashion for international markets and by our own GAA in partnership with RTÉ through the GAAGo service.
The model of those services is pay per view where fans around the world can buy match by match or season ticket passes to follow the teams of their choice.
The potential market size for the Irish game is smaller given the competition it faces from local soccer leagues that totally dominate mass media coverage in markets like the UK, Germany and Spain but this is an additional revenue stream to what was there before and should therefore be welcomed and given a chance.
Sunday’s fixture will be broadcast live via the FAI’s official YouTube channel. The show will be hosted by Kieran Crowley and former Republic of Ireland international Stephen Elliott.
