Kevin McStay is confident that a split-season GAA calendar will come into force in the near future.
Club v county debates and fixture congestion issues have troubled the association for years.
In non-Covid-19 times, amateur soccer and rugby players in Ireland had clear fixture lists to plan around, while the majority of club GAA players have always been at the mercy of various inter-county competitions and interests.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport last month, former Tipperary hurler Shane McGrath said uncertainty over fixtures is the main reason why people drop out of Gaelic games.
"You were asking a lad with maybe three or four kids and his own business to go back training in January for three or four nights a week for maybe a chance of a match in April," he said.
"[Now] there is a fixed season and lads know exactly when their games are going to be on."
The most recent proposal, which came in the midst of the outbreak that allowed clubs to hold centre stage with the inter-county championships being pushed to the end of the year, appears to have the backing of the main stakeholders, namely the Gaelic Athletic Association itself, the Gaelic Players Association, which represents inter-county players, and the Club Players Association.
The GAA's Fixture Calendar Review Taskforce met on Wednesday to examine proposals for a split season and discuss the wider implications for the association.
Any such major renovation would need to be approved at the GAA's Annual Congress in 2021.
"It has momentum now," former Roscommon manager McStay told RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport.
"It’s amazing, that old adage, crisis is always an opportunity. It seems that the GAA, the GPA, the CPA are aligning.
"The noises in the last two weeks have been agreeable.
"It’s an idea that has been out there for quite a while, it has been tested on paper but it’s never been road-tested. The pandemic gave the opportunity to have this road test.
"The debate was would the club or county come first in Covid and they elected for the club. I think the next iteration will have the county first.
"I like the detail: February to July, six months, more than enough for the county game but I would immediately say that pre-season has to be included in that. Put that in the regulations.
"We have shown that it can be done if the sanction is tough enough, that counties and management and chairmen row in and understand that the sanction isn’t worth it.
"Then August to September for the club game, county, provincial, the All-Ireland series. Then a closed season for December and January, even though the club finals would be in December but that would only be for a couple of clubs, obviously."
The decision to delay the start of the senior hurling and football championships has shone a spotlight on the club game.
We're back in action on Monday evening. And with no fans allowed, we're live streaming FIVE games. Only €5 each on https://t.co/XhHfNFvNEM.
— Official Offaly GAA (@Offaly_GAA) August 22, 2020
Please spread the word!
(Register well in advance of game & check if your broadband speed is ok on homepage of https://t.co/XhHfNFvNEM) pic.twitter.com/AF0C5D6KxH
With crowd restrictions in place, many clubs are streaming their matches while national TV stations, such as RTÉ and TG4, have been broadcasting live early-round championship games.
McStay added: "The exposure has been dramatic for the club game. I've been watching two or three games every weekend, streaming games on TV... marvelous games, a great advertisement for it.
"The fine details seem to stack up. I won’t say the Fixtures Review Taskforce have the complete solution in front of them but they certainly have the bones of it.
"The momentum, the GAA, the GPA, the CPA and the GAA public seem to feel, yes, this is very much worth giving it a real trial run for two or three years and let’s fix the fixtures once and for all.
"The chaos of the pandemic perhaps has allowed them to see the solution right in front of them."
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