The Orléans Loiret Basket (OLB) is a basketball club competing in the Betclic ÉLITE 2 division, which is the second tier of French professional basketball. Despite being a mid-tier team, OLB has the highest average attendance in the league, with 7,317 spectators per game during the 2025/26 season. According to budget rankings for the 2026/27 season, Orléans is the 8th highest budget club in the ÉLITE, placing it between Limoges and Cholet. OLB has seen significant financial growth over the years. Its budget increased from 3.72 million euros in the 2018/19 season to 7.13 million euros in 2026, a 36% increase from the previous year. This growth is largely due to the investment by the American group JHZ Holdings, which acquired 45% of the club's shares for about 450,000 euros. JHZ Holdings plans to become the majority shareholder by 2027, holding 80% of the club, and is expected to invest a total of 6.6 million euros over five years. Other clubs also experienced budget increases. Saint-Étienne Métropole (SCABB) saw a 9% rise in its budget, while Nantes moved up from the 14th to the 7th position in the rankings, with a 22% increase from 3.6 million euros. Nantes' financial growth is attributed to a leadership change, with Hubert Guillard, one of France's wealthiest individuals, taking over as president in March 2025. However, despite these positive trends, nearly half of the ÉLITE 2 clubs have seen their budgets decline since the previous season. Denain experienced the largest drop, with a 12% decrease. The average budget for ÉLITE 2 clubs has fallen from 3.55 million euros to 3.4 million euros. This is in contrast to the situation a decade ago, when the average budget for Pro B clubs—a lower division—was just below 2 million euros in the 2016/17 season. The ALM Évreux is the only club with a budget below 2 million euros, at 1.86 million euros, significantly lower than its previous competitor, Aix-Maurienne, which had a budget of 2.34 million euros. The financial gap between clubs has widened, with the budget range now spanning from 1.86 million euros to 7.13 million euros. In terms of salaries, the average salary for players has increased slightly, from 936,000 euros to 944,000 euros, a 1% rise. Orléans has the highest salary budget in the history of ÉLITE 2, at 1.95 million euros, nearly four times that of Évreux, which has a salary budget of 500,000 euros for its ten professional players. An exception to the trend of decreasing budgets is the Hyères-Toulon club (HTV), which has seen a significant increase in its salary budget of 31%, despite a 4% decrease in its overall budget. HTV now has the seventh-highest salary budget in the league, with 1.05 million euros, representing 39% of its total budget.