Until yesterday, that is. The decision by the SPL clubs to adjourn voting on sanctions against clubs in financial trouble constituted a commercial break in an element of the Rangers saga.
Any decision made at Hampden yesterday would have applied to all member clubs but everybody knows it was what can be termed The Rangers Vote. Or non vote.
It is a situation that is not going to disappear miraculously though it is predictable, even understandable that the other clubs want more time to consider just how they address the plight of a club that has a significant commercial value to them.
Neil Doncaster, the chief executive of the Scottish Premier League, made all the right noises about the delay. "There is a need to approach these really quite important issues with a full understanding of the picture and, at the moment, the picture is still emerging at Ibrox,'' he said.
''There are also other clubs who are concerned about how these rules might affect them so this is not just about one club but about all 12 members and they welcomed the opportunity to take further time to think about their position."
The decisions, he said, had not been influenced by threats of boycotts from disaffected Rangers fans. However, the decision not to make decisions takes some heat out of an increasingly volatile situation.
It also offers the administrators at Rangers room for manoeuvre. Doncaster would not say who proposed the adjournment, but it was to the satisfaction of Duff & Phelps. ''The fact the administrators welcomed this adjournment demonstrates that everyone believes this was the right course of action,'' he said.
There is little clarity, though, on what is happening between the SPL and the bidders for Rangers though Doncaster did address the matter of Bill Miller, the American tycoon, who has asked for assurances on any punishment the club might receive.
"I'm not going to go into the detail of what conversations we will have but certainly we aren't in a position to offer any assurances to anyone,'' said Doncaster.
"The process will be that there will be a preferred bidder and that will enable us to get into further conversation with whoever that is. At that stage we can have franker conversations.''
On any Miller plan to introduce a newco before the end of the season, Doncaster said: "If there were to be a deal between the administrators and any bidder who favoured the newco route, then the process would be that an application would be received by the SPL board for full transfer of the SPL share to the newco and the current rules allow the SPL board to deal with that at their discretion,'' he said.
"While the newco is a new concept in Scotland – I'm not aware that there ever has been one in Scottish football – it's relatively commonplace elsewhere. You may not be aware that, for example, Plymouth Argyle and Crystal Palace were also newcos when they came out of administration and they emerged without any sanction at all."
On the investigation into alleged wrongful payments to players by Rangers, Doncaster said: "It is ongoing. The investigation that we are carrying out remains in train. As soon as we have anything else to report, we will obviously report it.
"You'll understand that there is an awful lot of paperwork involved. So it's important, given the scale of the investigation, that we carry it out thoroughly. It's not been up and running for an awful long time. It needs to be given time to come to a proper conclusion so the board can establish whether there is a prima facie case or not. I never predict how long things are going to take.''
He was also unwilling or, more accurately, unable to predict just how the clubs will jump on Rangers. Was there a guarantee of finality next Monday when representatives of the clubs reconvene?
"Nope. I can't guarantee anything in the future,'' he said. This also applies to whether he believed Rangers would compete in the SPL next season. "I'm not going to get drawn into that. We have a job to do and that starts when we receive notification from administrators as to what their preference is,'' he said. ''If it's a CVA our involvement is minimal. Clearly, if they bring forward an application to transfer a share to a newco then [it] is greater. But this remains about Duff & Phelps and the bidders.''
It does for the moment but the SPL has a decision to make. The Rangers Question must be addressed. The non-Old Firm clubs must be aware of the commercial clout that Rangers wield. The punishment for administration or imposed on a newco has to be pitched carefully.
Rangers, after all, can tell the SPL that they want to take their ball to another league. There will be SPL clubs who view that admittedly distant prospect with increasing dismay as reality bites.
The SPL yesterday bought some time, no more.
Meanwhile, the search for a league sponsor goes on as Clydesdale Bank ends its connection after next season. The Sky deal also remains unsigned. It is not just Rangers who are facing uncertain times.
