The SPFL has gotten together and started to make plans for League 3, which would be a 5th nationwide professional league for Scotland.
Scottish Football is currently set up with four fully professional levels of leagues. The Premiership, Championship, League One, and League Two. However, there are apparently some clubs looking into proposing plans to change that.
The plan is in the very early stages, with clubs just starting to speak about it openly. Even if the change ends up happening it would not before some time.
One of the most obvious benefits would be giving some clubs in the Highlands and Lowlands leagues an easier opportunity to get into the SPFL pyramid, instead of the playoff system currently in place.
One of the biggest changes that could be brought about is the possibility for colt teams of the bigger Premiership sides, most notably Rangers and Celtic, could get a chance to compete in this tier of Scottish Football.
This would obviously be very beneficial for the Old Firm rivals. Putting them in the pyramid would give a real chance for Rangers youngsters to advance higher in the pyramid. This would have many benefits for the club.
First off, having a youth squad reach, say, League One, would be another legitimate source of revenue for the Club. Rangers fans would have more reason to watch the youth if in real competition against real opponents, and of course opposing fans have as much reason to see their sides play a youth squad as they do any other team.
The other benefit would be the potential to not have to loan players out with as much regularity. If the youth squad could reach League One then it would be more attractive to simply keep players there where they can still play in competitive matches while remaining with all of the high-level coaching, equipment, and services that come with being with Rangers.
For most of Scotland though, this would likely be a negative development. Scottish Football already has an issue with being dominated by Rangers and Celtic, allowing their colts teams to take up positions in the professional ranks would only make this issue larger, and bump out independent small-town squads who’s supporters would appreciate the games much more.