Interesting point that EPL clubs shouldn’t be in the EFL cup. On one hand I agree, because it’s the EFL cup. But I think the EFL trophy is already serving that purpose. The EFL cup is more opportunities for the same revenue you and @Astrealix have called out as a benefit of the FA cup current format. Maybe the answer is reducing the unplanned impact (I all of a sudden have to play a replay) but making the lower rounds more robust, doing something to ensure that there are no EPL vs EPL matchups up to round X of both the EFL and FA Cup. I don’t know if that’s feasible or desirable, and the flipside is it probably entrenches the “better” teams because it eliminates the possibility of a smaller team getting to the QF or SF with a lucky draw.

The real solution is to dismantle the corporate system that demands unlimited growth of all of these entities so that UEFA doesn’t need to keep adding to the comp to make more money.