SPFL shake up League Cup with £8m TV deal...

[ian1964 10,761]

...summer football and a two week winter shutdown.

 

BT SPORT agrees four-year deal as tournament gets set to begin in July with group stages before heading into a knockout phase.

 

SPFL bosses have agreed on a radical shake up of the League Cup which will bring both summer football and a winter shutdown to Scottish football next season.

 

Record Sport revealed in October that the competition was about to be given a major revamp and details of the makeover were made this afternoon public along with a new four year TV deal with BT Sport worth up to £8m.

 

The new look League Cup will kick off in July next year with eight groups of five teams competing over that month to make it into the last 16 and qualify for the knock-out rounds.

 

Clubs involved in European qualifiers will receive a bye into the last 16 and be joined by the eight group winners and best four second-placed teams in the knockout stages.

 

The sections will include the champions of the Highland and Lowland Leagues and will also see the introduction of penalty shoot-outs for any group matches which end in draw after 90 minutes - with a bonus point for the winners.

 

And the rescheduling of the ties has opened up a two week window in January when the top flight will shut down for a winter break.

 

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “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.

 

“Fans, the media and clubs alike have expressed a desire for competitive summer football which will be delivered from next July while the ground-breaking bonus point system should add incentive to teams and excitement for supporters.

 

“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 re-introduction of a winter break for Ladbrokes Premiership clubs. We are consulting with Ladbrokes Championship, League 1 and League 2 clubs to establish whether they also favour a winter break in their respective divisions.”

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/spfl-shake-up-league-cup-6970667

[ian1964 10,761]

Clubs are to be awarded a bonus point for winning penalty shootouts in a radical overhaul of the Scottish League Cup competition.

 

A regionalised group stage format for the early stages of the tournament is to be introduced from the 2016/17 season.

 

Eight groups of five teams will play across five match days in July, with a total of 80 games being completed in the first round.

 

The traditional three points for a win and one point for a draw format will be followed.

 

But in a move to try and reduce the number of dead rubbers, teams will gain an additional point if they win the shootout, which will be played at the end of 90 minutes in the event of a draw.

 

The changes will also lead to the reintroduction of a winter break for the Scottish Premiership in the first two weeks of January.

 

Clubs in the SPFL's other three divisions are also being consulted over taking the break.

 

With the league's four European entrants exempt from taking part in the first round, the winners of the Highland and Lowland Leagues will be included in the group stages.

 

The changes to the League Cup have also resulted in a four-year TV deal with BT Sport. The broadcaster will show 13 matches per season, with six from the group stage being aired.

 

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said of the changes: "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.

 

"Fans, the media and clubs alike have expressed a desire for competitive summer football which will be delivered from next July, while the groundbreaking bonus point system should add incentive to teams and excitement for supporters."

The tournament in detail

 

A group stage will be introduced for the first round of the competition

40 teams will take part. Thirty-eight will be drawn from the SPFL, with the champions of the Highland and Lowland Leagues also participating

The season's European participants will not enter until the second round

Eight groups of five teams will be drawn on what the SPFL is describing as a "loosely regionalised" basis, meaning no teams will face long trips

Teams will play each other once in an identical format to the 2006/07 UEFA Cup, with each side playing two games at home and two away

Premiership teams will be seeded and each placed into one of the eight groups

The first match will be played on Saturday, July 16

Subsequent matches will be played on July 20, 23, 27 and 30, all before the start of the league season

Drawn matches in the group stage will go immediately to a penalty shootout

The winner of the penalty shootout will be awarded a bonus point

The tiebreak format for the competition will be in order: points gained, away goals scored, goal difference, total goals scored

The eight group winners, and the four best runners up, will qualify for the second round

Four rounds will then follow on an unseeded basis

The final will continue to be played in March

 

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/hearts/1335126-clubs-to-get-bonus-points-for-penalty-shootout-wins-in-new-league-cup/

[RANGERRAB 3,732]

Yawn..........more meaningless games involving wee diddy clubs in a cup competition no one is interested in.

 

What Dumbcaster should have said was that the only show in town will be back next season, all being well, and we should all be glad about that. One can only hope eh?

[pete 2,499]

Yawn..........more meaningless games involving wee diddy clubs in a cup competition no one is interested in.

 

What Dumbcaster should have said was that the only show in town will be back next season, all being well, and we should all be glad about that. One can only hope eh?

 

For an amount that the English give as a tip.

[Bearman 9]

Teams playing European football won't be participating...Wow! The wonders of the Scottish League Cup with no European place for the winners?

[craig 5,199]

Teams playing European football won't be participating...Wow! The wonders of the Scottish League Cup with no European place for the winners?

 

They are participating.... They just get a bye to the KO stages

[Bearman 9]

They are participating.... They just get a bye to the KO stages

 

I did read the article about the revamped competition Craig.

[der Berliner 3,803]

Is that a half-cooked attempt to check how summer football will fare in Scotland?

 

40 teams will take part. Thirty-eight will be drawn from the SPFL, with the champions of the Highland and Lowland Leagues also participating

The season's European participants will not enter until the second round

 

Given the amount of points not collected by the Scottish teams in recent seasons, the number of non-participating teams will be ... 3? Or 4 at max for the upcoming years. So - in stark pragmatic terms - the rest of the top tier and everyting below them will effectively play roundabout a maximum of 8 to 10 games to win a cup that yields them entrance fees and silverware which gets them nowhere but into the record and history books. For smaller clubs sure a worthwhile excercise, but I am sure not getting excited over this format.

[ranger_syntax 4,422]

This all sounds silly to me.

 

Who exactly is asking for all this crap?

[der Berliner 3,803]

BT? So they have some "funny competitive summer" football on show on the cheap, instead of getting some from the US of A or the like? Not that I really care.

Edited December 8, 2015 by der Berliner