It had been widely stated that this year's introduction of play offs to the Premier League was to allow Sky TV to televise both legs of the final as part of the TV deal. However, the announcement of the new Sky TV deal states that the plans to cover the meetings are 'on-hold'.

A statement by Terry Russell, who brokered the deal, states: -

Whether we get to film their Final is up for debate at the moment. It may be a case of the Premier League running with what they've voted for this year, before fitting into the play off stream as it were and fine tune it at the next AGM.

With the system they've got (where the top eight teams enter the play-offs), the final will be late October, and it will be hard to schedule.

We'll be talking about it, but it may have to be fine tuned for next year.

It would be interesting to hear the views of Premier League promotions to this latest apparent bombshell. A few promotions, our own included, certainly gave the impression that the only reason this play off idea was voted in was to allow for TV coverage. It certainly appears that the wool has been pulled over some eyes but the question is, who has done the pulling?

Or perhaps, with the two legged finals apparently being scheduled for a Monday evening, they were worried that it would be Glasgow and Newport who qualified as both would struggle to accommodate Monday evening speedway in October?

Unless there is a change of plan, it looks like there will once again only be Elite League coverage on Sky in 2006. The Premier League once again looks to have been cast aside.

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