Thread by @CashNSport

It looks like #Ligue2 in France will get an extra two teams from next season after the French Football League voted in favor of expanding the competition feom 20 to 22 teams.

Expansion of #Ligue2 came following an LFP general assembly meeting of clubs from the top two tiers held yesterday (Wednesday). Some 57% of clubs are said to have voted in favour of the reform, which has to be approved by the French Football Federation (FFF)

This means that no #Ligue2 club will be relegated to the third-tier National league from the 2019-20 campaign, while the top two teams from the National are promoted. This means that Orléans and Le Mans remain in Ligue 2 for 2020-21, while Pau and Dunkerque come up from National.

Meanwhile, the LFP plans to grant an additional €25m in broadcast rights income to #Ligue2 clubs, according to L’Equipe and AFP. This would be on top of the maximum of  €110m currently shared between the second-tier teams. Ligue 2 clubs had been pushing to remove this cap.

Earlier this week, it was reported that #Ligue1 clubs had agreed to an equal division of the increase in annual media-rights revenue during the 2020-24 cycle. The top-tier clubs will earn nearly €1.2bn per season for their domestic broadcast rights from 2020-21 to 2023-24

This marks a rise of over 60% from the €726.5m per season earned from 2016-17 to 2019-20 in deals with Canal Plus and beIN. Qatar-headquartered beIN holds the Ligue 1 international rights in a six-year deal from 2018-19 to 2023-24 worth an average of €80m per season.

Earlier this month, the LFP adopted a resolution enabling the league to take out a loan to make up for the shortfall in broadcast rights monies caused by the termination of the 2019-20 season. The total of the loan is €224.5m.

The loan will cover rights fee payments that were due on 5 April and June 5 in order to ease clubs’ cash flow concerns.