Historically, the Scottish League Cup has oscillated between being a straightforward single-elimination knockout tournament and having an initial group phase.

If matches are level after ninety minutes, a penalty shoot-out is held with the winning team gaining a bonus point.

Along with the newly designed tournament, a new television deal for it was announced as BT Sport took over rights from BBC Scotland.

This tournament was largely regional and did not involve all of the teams who comprised the Scottish Football League prior to the outbreak of war.

The first official Scottish Football League Cup was contested during the 1946–47 season, when Rangers defeated Aberdeen in the final.

On 15 January 1947, long-term Clyde, and then Scottish Football League, chairman John McMahon donated the three-handled trophy that is still used to this day.

Additionally Ross County and East Fife are the only League Cup winners to have never played in a UEFA club competition.

Scottish League Cup matches are shown live by Premier Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The 2009 Scottish League Cup Final was shown live on SBS due to a fixture clash on previous hosts' Setanta channel.