In the superb 2004 BBC series Blackpool, Ripley Holden (David Morrissey) is a small time businessman who dreams of making millions with his seaside arcade.

Blackpool is part musical, part drama, and part fantasy. Kinda sounds like this past weekend's promotion playoff which saw Blackpool FC beat Cardiff City 3-2 and earn a spot in the English Premier League next season. It's a scenario that I'm not sure even Ripley Holden could have imagined.

Blackpool, with its tangerine jerseys and tiny stadium, is the newest member of the most powerful domestic football competition in the world.

When August rolls around and we fire up Foxtel for our weekly fix of EPL football, the Seasiders will be right there, front and centre, with 19 other elite English football teams.

Blackpool will head to Old Trafford to play Manchester United, the most valuable sporting club in the world, to Anfield to face the ghosts of Liverpool past and will make an appearance at one of the country's gleaming palaces, Emirates Stadium in North London, when it takes on Arsenal.

More interestingly - and more importantly - Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal, and of course, champions Chelsea, will all be coming to Bloomfield Road. Yes, the Bloomfield Road, with its 12,555 seats. Barring any additional seating, it would be the smallest stadium in EPL history, with 3,000 fewer seats than Swindon Town's County Ground.

In addition, you would hope that the presence of Messrs. Rooney, Drogba and Torres would get a few more fans along to the matches. Blackpool only averaged 8600 fans last season. That's less than half of the 18,000 that Wigan - the worst drawing EPL club - averaged per game in 2009/2010.

Of course, you have to remember, this won't be the same old Blackpool. Not with an estimated £95 million (A$165 million) pouring into the club's coffers. That's approximately what Blackpool will earn - from the EPL itself, as well as extra income from tickets and sponsorship - even if it only stays in the Premier League for one season. The British media, in fact, are calling this past weekend's win the richest prize ever awarded on the outcome of a single sporting event.

What the club chooses to do with that money, of course, is the dilemma that faces every promoted team. The pressure to try and stay in the Premier League forces management to buy new players, while those who stay receive wage increases. Bloomfield Road, enclosed on only three sides, will be upgraded. The infrastructure will need to be modernised to cope with the demands of visiting teams and fans used to the best the EPL has to offer.

Interestingly, Blackpool is a club with a wonderful tradition. It's nearly 125 years old, and boasts legendary former players like Stanley Matthews, Stan Mortensen and Jimmy Armfield. The club won a famous FA Cup victory in 1953. But its recent history has been wanting.

Whether Ian Holloway's side can buck the trend and stay in the top flight, a la Wigan, who came up in 2005, remains to be seen. It would be easier to draw comparisons to neighbouring Burnley, promoted last year, then relegated immediately this year, or perhaps Bradford City, which made it up in 1999, lasted one season and is now playing in League Two.

But that's all for another day. Right now, the future shines like the lights on the Blackpool promenade.