£8M REVAMP
New TV deal for League Cup
Winter break back next term
Group stage held in summer
SCOTTISH clubs will share in a new £8million four-year television deal with BT Sport after a radical revamp of the League Cup was announced yesterday.
It is understood the annual amount paid out from the contract, which begins next season, will be more than double the £900,000 per year available from the existing agreement for the competition with BBC Scotland.
Improved finances form part of a much altered League Cup package, which will deliver group stage football in July 2016 and will enable the reintroduction of a two-week winter break for Premiership clubs the following January.
The League Cup has not featured sections since the 1980s, but will open next summer with eight groups of five teams. The group stage uses the traditional three points for a win and one point for a draw but, in a ground-breaking addition, any group-stage match which finishes all square after 90 minutes will go directly to penalties, with the shoot-out winners given a bonus point.
SPFL bosses hope that the innovation, which they believe to be a first in world football, will add to match-day interest as well as limiting the number of meaningless games within any section. The five
“It is an exciting new
chapter for the Cup”
teams in each group will play each other once, spread across dates between July 16 and July 30 next year.
A seeded draw will involve all 38 SPFL sides who are not taking part in European qualifiers, as well as the winners of this season’s Highland League and Lowland League. The draw will also be ‘loosely regionalised’ in an attempt to restrict the travelling distances involved.
The eight group winners and four best runners-up will progress to the second round where they are joined by the clubs playing in Europe.
The competition then reverts to a standard knockout format.
Delivering some form of summer football — which has been long desired by many supporters — should help to alleviate congestion later in the season, with top-flight clubs then taking a fortnight off in January 2017.
Precise dates for the winter break — previously scrapped after season 2002/03 — have yet to be confirmed, but it is likely to commence immediately after the New Year fixtures.
Gaining some mid-season downtime will become increasingly valuable for leading players, with UEFA’s new Nations League set to add more June international fixtures from 2018.
While some smaller Scottish clubs had expressed reservations about the financial impact of starting the season earlier and having to pay players for longer, the SPFL hope the ‘significantly’ increased money from the new League Cup television deal will offset those concerns.
BT Sport will replace BBC Scotland as the exclusive live broadcaster from next summer and they will increase the number of matches shown.
Six games from the group stage will be screened live, as well as a further seven matches from the knockout rounds, including both semi-finals and the Final. The agreement runs through to the end of season 2019/20.
The SPFL initially set up a crossdivision working party to examine options for the League Cup, with their recommendations approved at a recent board meeting.
‘The new format of the Scottish League Cup marks an exciting new chapter for the competition and sees Scottish football leading the way with a number of innovations,’ insisted SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster (right) yesterday.
‘Fans, the media and clubs alike have expressed a desire for competitive summer football, which will be delivered from next July. The groundbreaking bonus point system should add incentive to teams and excitement for fans. ‘We are delighted to welcome BT Sport as our exclusive League Cup TV broadcast partner and to have their support for the new format.
‘Our agreement with BT Sport delivers a huge increase in the number of games being shown live as well as providing increased competition prize money for clubs.
‘The new format has also enabled the reintroduction of a winter break for Ladbrokes Premiership clubs.
‘We are consulting with Ladbrokes Championship, League One and League Two clubs to establish whether they also favour a winter break in their respective divisions,’ added Doncaster.
In September, the SPFL agreed an improved deal — worth around £17.5million per year — for coverage of league fixtures by Sky and BT Sport until 2020.
That deal will now expire at the same time as the latter broadcaster’s League Cup agreement.
‘BT Sport is thrilled to deepen its connection to Scottish football through this new long-term deal,’ added Simon Green, head of BT Sport.
Following last night’s announcement, Falkirk chairman Doug Henderson repeated his call for full league reconstruction.
The Bairns want the top flight expanded to 16 teams and Henderson said: ‘This must open the door for us to have positive and collective discussions about the structure of our leagues.
‘I believe we can now build real momentum to improve Scottish football for the better and the call for league reconstruction can be discussed at the next SPFL meeting in January.’