I cant decide whether this is a good idea or not. On one hand as has been said already it makes the cups more intresting/competitive which has to be good but the other side is the leagues could suffer.
Take for example the SPL last year, a couple of months to go and all Celtic need to do is not lose 3 out of 10 games or whatever it is, Rangers being pushed by Aberdeen for the much needed 2nd place to get to Champions league qualifing. Under this proposed system if they are out the cup by that point they have nothing to play for in the last 3-4 months of the season. If I was the gaffer I would field my under 20s or whatever for the rest of the season and get them some 1st team experience, who cares if you finish 4th the difference in cash between 2nd and 4th isnt going to make much difference to Rangers.
Same in England there are 4 teams that realistically could battle every year for the top 2 places to get CL football. Every year these teams get stronger from the cash but look how competitive the premier is in England, not to win it but to finish in the spots from 3rd to 8th. Do we really a want a division of cup teams? There are many teams who have come into the CL by not winning their own league and they bring a lot to the competition, Liverpool being the top example off the top of my head.
Any team can win a domestic cup, not on a regular basis maybe but all the teams have it in them, I think consistency over a full season should be rewarded rather than a lucky draw and a handfull of good results. Anyway can you imagine half the managers complaining if they actually had to take a cup seriously, they complain enough as it is.
I think what needs to be looked at is the
UEFA cup rather than the CL, improve the silly format and maybe pump some money into it. I cant remember the exact figures but comparing Celtic's cash gain from the run in the CL to Ranger's run in the
UEFA the difference is staggering. Really the only incentive to win the
UEFA cup is that of winning a major european trophy compared to the cash cow that the CL is. I say clip some from the CL and feed it to an improved
UEFA cup.