Streamlined club championships across the country and two possible football inter-county championships are among the 32 recommendations made by the GAA's Fixtures Taskforce.
The Taskforce, which has been working since June on the plans but was hit with the setback when the Club Players Association (CPA) withdrew over misgivings with the process, outlined its vision for "striking a better balance and a degree of certainty" between the club and inter-county scene.
Some of the headline recommendations include that no county should be permitted to have more than 16 teams in their senior and intermediate championships, the playing of All-Ireland hurling and football finals on consecutive weekends and two possible football championship formats are put forward, with both catering for a Tier 2 Championship.
Format 1 would see four provincial competitions of eight teams each, split into two groups of four. Played in a round-robin format, the final league positions would determine further progress in the championship.
The second option is more radical, with the league switched to the summer and the provincial format moved to February/March, with the league results determining a pathway to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
The report does not call for any structural change to the hurling championship, but does recommend that the Hurling Committee consider whether Munster and Leinster should expand from five to six teams.
The recommendation that each county has a maximum of 16 teams in senior and intermediate club championships could cater for uniformity across the board, with an Oversight Unit in place to ensure a smoother running of the calendar.
A full-time Fixture Analyst in each province would be responsible for, among other things, making sure clubs have access to county players.
A '10 Day Rule' is to cover all club games, not just championship, and allows counties to schedule club fixtures up to 10 days before the county team is in championship action in the same code, while inter-county challenge games would not be permitted in the month of April.
Holding the All-Ireland hurling and football finals on consecutive weekends frees up more time for club activity and the report states that the recommendations "have the potential" to increase the number of club-only weekends between April and October from 12 to 15.
Other recommendations include staging the Under-20 hurling and football championships as national competitions without provincial action, including the Galway senior hurling club champions in the Munster and Leinster club championships
The report will be presented to Central Council in January and it is expected a number of the motions will be put forward for Annual Congress at the end of January, with most of the remaining motions tabled at a Special Congress later in the year. If adopted, the earliest the new recommendations would be in place for 2021.
"Any plan will need to be based on the Association's appetite for change," Eddie Sullivan, chairman of the Review Taskforce said at Croke Park today.
"The Taskforce is of the view that there is a healthy appetite for this throughout the organisation and that this opportunity needs to be seized."
