Celtic and Rangers could settle title in AUGUST as Uefa consider new plan to finish all European leagues
UEFA have called a meeting of all 55 member associations this Wednesday, amid reports that they are actively planning to finish the season in August and play shortened competitions next term to avoid losing billions in TV money.
An emergency working group at European football's governing body are working on restructuring the decimated sporting calendar - with Rangers currently midway through a Europa League last 16 tie against Bayer Leverkusen.
They have called a conference call of all 55 national associations to discuss possible alternatives for playing rescheduled matches.
The decision to postpone Euro 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic has already cost the European governing body millions of pounds.
And The Times reports that cancelling the season before it finishes "would cost both the European governing body and domestic competitions billions in lost TV revenue — £750 million for the Premier League alone."
For now, the European governing body have asked all domestic leagues to get their competitions completed by June 30, a target which most feel is hugely unrealistic.
But Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has suggested that it could also be possible to wait until August to complete their existing competitions.
Celtic currently lead Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership by 13 points - having played a game more than their Glasgow rivals.
The Old Firm duo have still to play each other two more times before the end of the current campaign.
While at the other end of the table Hearts occupy bottom spot but are just six points from safety and four off the relegation play-off spot.
Ceferin told Italian paper La Repubblica: "There is the possibility of ending this season at the start of the next, which would then be delayed and begin later."
Next season could be 'shortened' by making qualifying and knockout matches one-legged rather than two, or by altering the qualification formula in some other way.
English PFA chief Gordon Taylor has backed the plans.
He said: "I don’t see why there should not be a flexible approach by everyone to finish this season in the proper manner no matter how long it takes.
"Domestically there is a lot of money at stake which would have a massive impact for the game — we’re talking about three-quarters of a billion pounds in TV money."
While pushing the Uefa deadline back could mean more chance for domestic leagues being played to a finish, another radical proposal which has emerged today is banning Premier League stars from going home and forcing them to live together so football can kick off again behind closed doors in June.
That could see the squads of all 20 teams staying at separate locations — with no chance of going home to their families — until the season is finally over.
Keeping a team isolated as a unit would make it easier to prevent Covid-19 from spreading.
Matches could either be played on the normal schedule or in mini-tournaments in one location, such as the FA's St George's Park training base.
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Players who have played at international tournaments would be used to the set-up, as they stay together in one hotel and only leave to train and play matches.
Talks on the financial impact of the virus are due to resume between Premier League, EFL and PFA bosses this week before a summit on Friday.
But SunSport understands that this plan is NOT currently on the agenda north of the border.
For one, such a scenario would still require use of certain NHS staff - with all hands to the pump in hospitals across the country to keep people alive.
Secondly, while a sum in the region of £750million is at stake for English clubs, the broadcasting sums potentially at stake for outstanding Scottish league games are far more modest.
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And while a club like Kilmarnock has the Park Hotel on the footprint of Rugby Park, Scottish football simply cannot lay claim to the same quality and quantity of facilities as are on offer in the Premier League in England.
Any money which is forthcoming is likely to be used paying up players' wages rather than investing in hotel bills for players to stay in.
Meanwhile, in Italy, one of the countries worst affected by coronavirus, chiefs could announce today that the current Serie A season is being cancelled.
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