SKY TV are poised to tear up their £110million deal to screen Scottish football if Rangers are thrown into the Third Division.
The broadcasting giants agreed their five-year deal with the SPL on the basis of four money-spinning Old Firm clashes a year.
And sources close to talks between Sky and the SPL say without those audience-grabbing games, Sky will have no commercial reason to stay in Scotland.
But one way out could be for Rangers to be demoted to the First Division in the hope they could bounce straight back in a season.
A Sky insider said: âThree years without Rangers, while Rangers climbed from the Third Division to the Second, then the First and then the SPL, would blow the whole deal out of the water.
âIf Rangers are kicked out of the SPL, the longest Sky will wait for them to return is a year.
âItâs just not worth it commercially if itâs going to be any longer than 12 months with no Old Firm league games while Rangers climb back up the leagues.
âFour Old Firm games a season is what Sky export around Britain and around the world â thatâs what they pay for.
âNo Rangers equals no Sky, unless Gers are back very soon.â
The Sky deal, which also involves broadcaster ESPN, is worth £16million a year to the SPL â plus at least another £6million a year from spin-offs, such as shirt sponsorships and pitchside adverts, which would collapse without TV cameras at games.
The threat to the contract emerged on Tuesday after HM Revenue and Customs â the clubâs biggest creditor â refused to agree a company voluntary arrangement to bring Rangers out of administration.
Prospective buyer Charles Green will now have to form a new company to run the club as the old one go into liquidation â and the newco will have to apply for entry to the SPL.
A creditorsâ meeting at Ibrox today will rubber-stamp the liquidation.
The chairmen of the other 11 SPL clubs then face an impossible dilemma.
If they allow newco Rangers to stay in the top flight, they would enrage many of their own supporters who want to see the club hammered.
Some fans are even threatening to boycott their own teams if the punishment is not severe enough.
But if the chairmen fall into line with their fans and send the new Rangers to the Third Division, they risk financial meltdown.
There are profound fears that six current top-flight clubs could go to the wall without TV money â and that could kill the Scottish game.
The only room for compromise, sources say, would be for Rangers to be demoted only to the First Division. They would be expected to fight their way back to the top flight the following year.
And Sky hope a one-division relegation option would satisfy the desire to hammer the newco for the sins of Craig Whyte, without crippling the SPL.
The SPL are expected to announce a date for a crucial debate and vote on Rangers in the next few days.
Eight of 12 SPL clubs would be required to vote to relegate Rangers to a lower league, if the lower leagues would accept the Ibrox side. The showdown will come before the SPL AGM in mid-July.
The Sky insider said: âSky have a duty to get a return on the investment they have made.
âItâs not about an agenda against one side of the Old Firm â itâs a business case.Advertising revenues, particularly from Old Firm matches, would be severely affected. Old Firm matches have the potential of bringing in more than a million viewers.
âTaking such matches out of the equation is very damaging. They would be prepared to wear it for a year but any longer would not be viable.â
The TV deal with Sky and ESPN ensures that the SPL are given a pot of £80million over five years.
The cash is paid to the SPL, who take their cut for running costs before distributing most of the cash between their 12 clubs. Clubs in the lower leagues get a total of £2million between them from the deal.
This season, Dundee United, for example, received £1.4million from the SPL. But bosses believe the sum would be reduced to a mere £200,000 if the TV deal blows up.
In an online poll, 97 per cent of Aberdeen fans voted against Rangers being allowed into the SPL as a newco. And the feeling is equally strong in other clubs.
Rival supporters believe that the huge wages paid by Rangers to stars such as Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup bought the club their honours â and were only possible through an unsustainable business model.
They are determined Rangers should face sanctions to stop other clubs doing the same.
Last month, the SFA banned Rangers from making any new signings and fined them £100,000 for bringing the game into disrepute.
A judge later ruled the SFA acted beyond their powers in imposing a year-long transfer ban â meaning that the SFA could now impose an even more severe penalty.
