UEFA's new plans for financial regulations in football have swerved a salary cap in a move that will come as a boost to elite clubs, according to a report.
European football's governing body had set out proposals next month to replace its Financial Fair Play rules with a US-style system seen in the NFL.
However, they have opted instead for a model which will see 70 per cent of club revenue allowed to be spent on salaries, claim The New York Times.
Any clubs breaching the cap would have to pay a luxury tax, under which the equivalent or more of any overspend would go into a pot to be redistributed, a system currently in place in basketball's NBA.
To allow the teams to adjust to the new regulations, the new rules will be introduced slowly.
Clubs will be able to spend up to 90 per cent of their revenues before that figure will be brought to its permanent 70 per cent level within three seasons.
This will replace the current Financial Fair Play structure which punishes clubs if they do not break even over a three-year period.
The plan appears to allow more leeway to the super-rich clubs with the likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain outspending clubs across the globe.
That could see the Scottish Premiership sides cut further adrift from the superclubs who dominate the latter stages of the Champions League.
Big-money TV deals, huge sponsorship packages and wealthy owners have ramped up the gap between Scottish football and some of Europe's biggest sides.
New punishments available to UEFA reportedly including the right to impose both sporting and financial penalties for rule breakers, including fines, threat of expulsion and an option for demoting teams between the three competitions it currently operates.
That means that Champions League teams could drop to to the second-tier Europa League for a rules breach.
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