Second-tier clubs win a bigger share of broadcast money

The settlement reached this week redirects a meaningful slice of the broadcast pot towards clubs outside the top flight, and changes the formula used to divide it.

Under the old arrangement, money followed final league position and televised appearances, a system that reliably paid the most to the clubs that needed it least. The new formula weights attendance, academy output and community programmes alongside sporting results.

Executives at the largest clubs, who had resisted the change through two seasons of negotiation, extracted a concession: the new weighting phases in over four years rather than arriving at once.

Lower-division chairmen described the outcome as survival money rather than transformation. Several clubs in the second tier have been operating on rolling short-term loans, and a handful have been one bad season from administration.

Whether the deal changes competitive balance is a longer question. More money lower down has historically produced better stadiums and bigger wage bills in roughly equal measure.