Mitchell ran the Scottish Premier League from 1998 until 2002
Dundee United chairman Steven Thompson has refuted suggestions that the Scottish Premier League sparks no interest outside Scotland.
The league is looking for a new broadcasting partner after severing its deal with Setanta on Monday.
Roger Mitchell, former SPL chief, told BBC Scotland: "Frankly, outside Scotland the SPL has no market."
But, Thompson said: "The Old Firm have worldwide appeal and bring people to the table that normally wouldn't come."
Yet, whilst acknowledging the attraction of Celtic and Rangers to potential broadcasters, he was at pains to stress that the other 10 teams are no less important.
"They're not the be all and end all, they can't have a league on their own, but the SPL does have an appeal in other places," he said.
Mitchell, who left his position as SPL chief executive in 2002, did say his outlook on the league being able to broker a new broadcasting deal had become brighter.
"I've become relatively optimistic in the last couple of days because clearly ESPN have entered the market for rights, and will be in the market for rights very quickly," he said.
The American broadcaster has already bought the 46 live English Premier League games for next season, which that were previously held by Setanta.
And as far as Mitchell is concerned they would appear to be the most likely bidder.
"If you look at it, it's mostly Celtic and Rangers away games that are shown live," he explained.
"The main issue here is about the timings of games, as it always has been, and that's why I don't think Sky will be interested.
"I believe their slots available will be Saturday nights and Monday nights, and neither of those are going to work for police reasons, and also because it's too close to the Champions League.
"So one has to be thinking, yes, the SPL has to find a buyer, but when will they be played and what's the kind of windowing that has to happen with its terrestrial partners."
Meanwhile, the United chairman felt the attitude of Scotland's press in their reporting of Setanta's demise was not helpful to the league's efforts to find a new backer.
"I am annoyed with the press. We are a very negative nation," he said.
"Perhaps it sells papers but this negativity is damaging the reputation of the game, it makes it more difficult for all of us to sell a product to someone.
"If people are being negative about something, of course, it is harder to sell it."
The SPL took the step to seek a new television broadcasting deal after Setanta failed to meet a deadline to pay £3m as part of its contract.
The Irish company first won the rights to broadcast live SPL matches in competition with previous rights holder BBC Scotland in 2004.
BBC Scotland has not contacted the league over the possibility of broadcasting live games for the 2009/10 season.
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?