SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster believes Scottish football is leading the way by introducing an innovative new format for the League Cup.

Not only will summer football become a reality in Scotland after the league agreed a four-year deal worth in excess of £7.5 million with BT Sport to screen the competition, which will see eight groups of five contest the first round before the end of July, but a bonus point will be up for grabs for the winner of a penalty shoot-out which will be played at the end of all drawn group stage matches.

Although the groups will be loosely regionalised, an all-Glasgow grouping featuring the likes of Celtic, Rangers, Partick Thistle and Queen's Park, is essentially impossible, as Scotland's four European entrants enter at the last 16 stage, when the competition becomes a straight knockout, and the group stage draw is seeded in any case.

"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," said Doncaster.

“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."

The tournament, which is still without a title sponsor, will conclude, as usual, with a showpiece final in March, with the earlier start meaning that a two-week winter break will return for Ladbrokes Premiership sides at least from January 2016.

Outfits in the Championship and Leagues One and Two are still being consulted on whether they would rather take the time off too or else play right through.

Whereas the BBC paid around £900,000 a year for the right to screen five matches, usually taking just four, BT Sport have committed to screening a total of 13 games live a season.

The broadcaster will select six from the group stages, which will be played Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday between the 16th and 30th of July, subject to live broadcast selections, and seven from the remainder of the tournament, including both semi-finals and final.

All 38 SPFL teams not participating in European football will compete in the group stages, plus the winners of this season's Highland League and Lowland League.

The draw for the group stages will be seeded and will take into account this season's league placings (ie. Rangers and Hibs would be regarded as seeds in the event that they win promotion this season) but in practice true regional groupings may be difficult to achieve.

Similar to Uefa draw procedures, the SPFL will simply stipulate that teams are not forced to travel huge distances.

“We are delighted to welcome BT Sport as our exclusive League Cup TV broadcast partner and to have their support for the new format," added Doncaster.

"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," he added. "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.”