Niall Quinn feels the League of Ireland’s streaming service WATCHLOI was ‘half-decent while it lasted’.
But he admits the venture struggled to realise its potential because of the FAI’s crippling debts.
In his old role of FAI deputy interim CEO, Quinn - who no longer works at the FAI - was a driving force behind WATCHLOI when it launched last year.
In conjunction with RTE, it streamed live league and FAI Cup games to fans who could not attend matches in the second-half of the season because of Covid-19.
Clubs received a small dividend from the FAI over the course of the 85 games, but it’s not financially viable for RTE to commit to a full season in 2021.
While the product was generally well received by those who subscribed, the take up was ultimately poor.
It was revealed last week that approximately 11,000 people subscribed to WATCHLOI, a figure that fell short of initial hopes.
WATCHLOI won’t return in the same format this year, but FAI chiefs are investigating if there’s merit in a hybrid version.
Quinn said today: “I'm not in the FAI anymore so I’m looking back retrospectively but I read there were 11,000 signed up and 6,000 given out (to club season ticket holders).
“When we were looking at it first, international companies got in touch.
“The problem was one of them wanted to put a seven-figure sum into marketing, as long as the FAI matched it. But we had no money.
“In an ideal world, had we not been in a financial abyss, we could have looked at an international digital marketing campaign.
“But we had to go a different route and stay at home, there was no money spent on marketing, or very little.”
Quinn continued: “The loyal League of Ireland people were happy with it. I got good feedback on its intention.
“But obviously it can't be something that drains resources, and clubs might feel that people are getting too used to not being at matches.
“It might interfere with ticket sales, the real bread and butter when it comes back.
“We would have loved a big marketing kitty and gone international with it, but it was where it was. I'd prefer to have seen better numbers, but they weren't.”
Asked if WATCHLOI could be saved in some shape or form, Quinn added: “They said 6,000 season ticket holders got it for free so it served a purpose.
“It meant that clubs didn't have to send cheques back because having to refund money would have been tough.
“You would love everyone abroad with an Irish connection to be tapped but we just couldn't get into that.
“There was a nice connection there in the pandemic that didn't go far enough and pity about that, but it was half-decent while it lasted.”
Niall Quinn - Bootroom to Boardroom airs on Virgin Media Two, this Wednesday 17th February at 10.15pm. The Champions League also returns to Virgin Media Television tomorrow, with all games live on Virgin Media Sport
