THE FAI yesterday confirmed details of the deal with international television production outfit Endemol Sport which caused such controversy over the course of the summer when it was cited by the association as the basis for prohibiting Limerick from playing a fundraising friendly against Barcelona at Thomond Park.
Under the terms of the agreement, which also involves the Damien O’Brien-led sports agency, Iconic, a four-team tournament will be played at the Aviva Stadium in each of the next 10 years with the association to be paid at least €1 million each year in return for providing the venue and sanctioning the event in an environment that will be kept free from any rival matches or tournaments.
A League of Ireland representative team will compete in the event, which will take place on July 30th and 31st, but European champions Inter Milan will top the bill in year one with two further foreign clubs to be added to the line up between now and Christmas.
Gregg Oldfield of Endemol declined to say who the other clubs might be but did confirm that one would be a prominent Premier League outfit and the other a major club from continental Europe.
The fact in the accompanying press release the section that provided background information on the firm mentions that it works with three clubs – Inter, Manchester City and Ajax – may or may not be taken as something of a hint.
The deal is described as a partnership between the three organisations and as part of the arrangement Endemol will sponsor the association’s Emerging Talent programme but Oldfield made it fairly clear that the core element to this new relationship is the tournament which, he said, the company hopes to market to broadcasters around the globe.
Asked about prohibiting the Barcelona game on the basis of an agreement that effectively wasn’t going to come into effect until next summer, Delaney claimed: “What we had was an agreement in place whereby we could not grant (permission for) games for a stadium in excess of 15,000 people.
“I think to be fair to the guys, they wanted to see how strong we would be on that commitment and be sure that we would see it through over a 10-year period. And we were.”
It is not clear just how badly the two companies wanted this demonstrated a year before they would bring anyone to Ireland themselves but they may well be pleased that their deal effectively kills off any real chance that rivals such as Platinum One, with which the FAI has shown a marked reluctance to deal with, might attempt to promote rival events or work with clubs to organise friendlies in the future.
Inter’s visit, in any case, will bear some similarities to the one organised by Platinum which involved Real Madrid and the one proposed for Barcelona with the Italians set to stay for a week or so in order to undertake some portion of their pre-season training and play another game, most likely outside Dublin, with the availability of Thomond Park having already been confirmed.
Delaney, however, defended the arrangement on the basis that “a deal of a million euros a year in cash is, certainly in this economy, something that is not happening very often to many sporting organisations or many companies. It is going to be good for all of Irish football.”
While admitting that ticket prices for international games would be reviewed for next year in the light of disappointing attendances and the economic climate, he said he could not give any assurances that there would not be job losses at the association during the coming year, however, saying only that the budget for 2011 which is being worked on at the moment, would be “prudent”.
