Doncaster says expanded Premiership not necessarily the way forward
Neil Doncaster has indicated the Scottish Premiership will likely never be expanded, despite calls for a larger top flight to be considered in any reconstruction efforts.
Speaking on the Price of Football podcast, the SPFL chief executive discussed many topics, including the League Two colts plan and gambling sponsorship, and fielded a number of questions from football fans.
League reconstruction has been particularly relevant recently given the rapid rise of teams in the Lowland and Highland Leagues, with suggested expansion for the fourth tier, but Doncaster played down the idea of shaking up the Premiership.
Asked about the prospect of enlarging the top division, he said: “I’m not certain an expanded Premiership would increase matchday or broadcast revenue. A 16-team Premiership would presumably be played on a one home, one away basis as opposed to the current set-up of two home, one away, or vice versa, before the split. In a smaller league, you end up with more big games. You’re likely to end up with lower matchday and broadcast revenues in a bigger league.”
News of a step forward in terms of a merged Dutch-belgian league has again raised the issue of an Atlantic League.
However, Doncaster said: “It's very difficult to combine leagues; not least of all because of the European places and how UEFA would allocate them, but I do think UEFA is more open-minded to mergers of leagues as a potential way of bridging the polarisation of wealth in European football we've seen in recent years.
“Everyone recognises polarisation of money in football is a bad thing. The difficulty is what you do about it.”