A plan by Scottish Championship side Hibernian to grab a "greater share of Premiership play-off cash has been booted out" by the Scottish Professional Football League, according to Gary Ralston of the Scotland DAILY RECORD. The Easter Road club asked for the current levy of 50% of ticket receipts for the end of season fixtures, distributed throughout the league, to "be reduced" to 25%. The six playoff games next month are set to net around £1M ($1.51M) in revenue and Hibs argued the current financial distribution model, "which rewards Premiership clubs in particular, is unfair." The SPFL on Wednesday rejected the club's bid and said that the current system "must stand." Hibs Chair Rod Petrie left Hampden without comment. Meanwhile, SPFL members "also approved hardline amendments to rules regarding the insolvency of clubs." Currently, any club suffering an insolvency event is "deducted 15 points, unless it is a club's second insolvency event within five years, in which case the deduction is 25 points." Now, clubs subject to a deductible insolvency event "would have imposed fixed deductions of 15 points immediately, plus a further five points in the immediately following season" (DAILY RECORD, 4/23). The BBC reported Hibs CEO Leeann Dempster "would not reveal how much backing the proposal had received." Dempster: "We had a reasoned debate, members have heard our perspective and decided
not to agree, which we are OK with because it's a democratic process." Heart of Midlothian, Hibs and Motherwell claimed that other clubs "would not lose out by a change in distribution, because the Scottish
FA was funding the parachute payment for clubs relegated from the
Premiership and because of television coverage." Dempster added, "I really don't want to get hung up on this now" (BBC, 4/23).
