Celtic director Dermot Desmond has predicted the club could soon defect from the Scottish Premier League and join the English Premiership.
He said joining the Premiership would make financial sense for both Celtic and Rangers - as well as the leading clubs in England - and claimed "the ball is already rolling".
Desmond made his comments in an interview with the Business and Financeweekly magazine in the wake of Celtic's current £25 million share placing.
"This will happen inevitably. The ball has already been set rolling and there have been preliminary discussions between the chairmen of a number of clubs about it."
Desmond believes Rangers are also moving in the same direction - but at a different pace.
Desmond owns around 20 per cent of Celtic and plans to invest an additional £5 million to prevent dilution under the current placement programme.
"Celtic and Manchester United are the only clubs in Britain to maintain control over their media rights. That's our future, and giving those rights away would be like selling the family silver," he said.
"I believe that within a number of years, this club can be generating profits of £6 million to £7 million from its multi-media activities alone - and that's even before we leave the Scottish Premier League
"If even 100,000 of Celtic's worldwide base of supporters paid £120-a-year for a virtual season ticket and the facility to watch all matches live on the Internet, that equates to £20 million from that revenue source alone. - PA