https://www.ad.nl/nederlands-voetba...visie-2-0-zonder-kunstgras-dichtbij~a680122d/ The title is a bit misleading as the grass vs art. turf isnot what it's all about. The top 3 are proposing a new style of the Eredivisie with a reduction to 16 clubs and a play off for the title. To win over the other clubs they put in at least 10% of the European club revenues for the other clubs. I think that 10% deal is a bit of a selling the bear's skin before it's killed. With a little bit of unluck you end up with 10% of nothing. Clubs already had a bad financial experience with the projected tv revenues of the KNVB channel a few years ago and when lower table clubs are going to rely on iffy revenues (remember clubs have contracts for several years with players that arenot indexed for set backs in revenues), the disastrous effects could mean a culling of the number of clubs by outright bankruptcy.
^^ Portugal which is almost the same size as The Netherlands in terms of population and football interest has 18 teams in their top league. I don't see a good reason for going below this number. I agree that promising 10% of Euro revenues is a fool's errand. It could easily be 10% of something close to zero. Everyone would be better off by figuring out why Dutch clubs don't do better in the Europa League compared to some other countries.
Someone from Sparta Rotterdam reacted with something from my mind that it would be more in line to extend the league to 20 clubs. Look at the second tier of this year. There are four Eredivisie worthy clubs in there at the moment (FC Twente, Roda JC, Sparta, NEC. With 16 clubs relegation is a bigger danger for the remaining clubs. It's not worth the shaky 10% carrot. You get about 10 million divided by 13 (16 minus the big three) = about 800k €. (That supposes the big 3 also share gate and catering revenues and point bonuses). But from that 10 million the return to grass has to be payed, so actually the clubs donot benefit much for giving up spots and a bigger chance for relegation.
In Germany the discussion has taken off to to reform the league and competition too. Union Berlin has published a document with a plan and it has in it something I am a proponent of, extending the league to 20 clubs. Play-offs im Fußball?: Union Berlin sorgt mit Vorschlag für Skepsis ... Berliner Zeitung-10 okt. 2018 „Ich bin spontan auch kein Freund von der Idee, die Liga aufzustocken“, sagte Gladbachs Manager Max Eberl, der das Papier von Union Berlin ... Nach Vorschlag von Union Berlin: Fan-Vertreter gegen Playoffs