For the next four seasons, League of Ireland games will be streamed live for those outside of Ireland. Under the FAI's four year deal with the TRACKCHAMP streaming service, League of Ireland games will be streamed live on the website of the betting company, Bwin.
The FAI said that 15 new jobs would be created in maintaining the service and the deal would deliver 'significant revenues' for the association.
However, speaking to the Sunday Independent yesterday, Offaly footballer Niall McNamee attacked the deal, saying it promoted gambling.
This type of outrageous move just normalises and promotes gambling and I think there is a risk here - especially for young and vulnerable minds.
It implies that there is no danger associated with gambling and people are forgetting about the well-being of the people in this country and the well-being of people in any other country where the games will be viewed.
McNamee has spoken before about his own battles with gambling addiction.
On 2FM's 'Game On' last week, the TRACKCHAMP spokesman Martin Fureder confirmed that the industry standard was that one 'needed to have an account and registered and have some activity on that account' to access the streaming service.
We contacted the FAI for their response to these comments today.
They did not address the concerns of McNamee but the FAI's director of communications, Ian Mallon issued this statement saying many football associations around the world had signed deals with TRACKCHAMP and the deal was based on 'a thorough analysis of the market.'
The deal with TRACKCHAMP has been based on a thorough analysis of the market, and internationally benchmarked through global industry experts and across international sporting brands.
It is no different to other data and streaming deals that many football and sports brands have signed up to including the Northern Ireland Football League (also TrackChamp) but also English Premier League, English Football League, Scottish Professional Football League, English Football Conference, Spain's La Liga, German Bundesliga, Russian Premier League and others.
Outside of football the ATP Tour (Men's Tennis), WTA Tour (Women's Tennis), International Tennis Federation, FIBA (World basketball) PDC (Professional Darts), World Snooker and Professional Squash Association have all similar partnerships in place.
