The special commission of the Chamber of Deputies that analyzes the updating of the Pelé Law evaluates serial changes in the project that institutes the general norms of sport in the country. The legislation, passed in 1998, could undergo major changes.
Among the points foreseen are the inclusion of a special retirement for Olympic athletes, the removal of the limit on the image rights of football athletes, the allocation of part of the collection with online betting for the sport and the revision of criteria for the election of confederation presidents and federations.
Discussions about the changes are expected to gain momentum in December and early 2022 at the Chamber. The update of the Pelé Law is reported by federal deputy Felipe Carreras (PSB-PE). The first version of the law was created in 1998, when Pelé was Minister of Sports in the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB).
The debate over special retirement for Olympic athletes gained momentum after the Tokyo Olympics, held from July to August this year. The Chamber assesses where the resources for the specific benefit would come from. The debate is between raising online bets or creating a general sports fund.
The main articulation is through the collection of taxes from online betting, which, although legalized in Brazil, is not regulated and, therefore, does not pay taxes. A plan B is the creation of a grant to be paid by the federal government.
“We have, as an alternative, the inclusion of a category in the Bolsa Atleta on a permanent basis for those who represented us at the Games”, says deputy Felipe Carreras. The value has not yet been defined and the idea is that the resources will be used for professional qualification after leaving the sporting arenas.
Regarding the regulation of online sports betting, lawmakers believe that taxation would be beneficial with the amounts converted to sport.
“Allocating a percentage of the proceeds from these bets to sport is more than necessary and desirable, similar to the criteria for distributing lotteries to sport”, says Carreras. “The betting games that involve any sport will have to have the validation of the COB (Olympic Committee of Brazil). Not being Olympic, of the federation or entity that represents it.”
In the case of football, for example, the guarantee for regulated betting would be done by the CBF (Confederação Brasileira de Futebol).
The sports confederations are also in the crosshairs of the Chamber of Deputies. The main focus is on the process of electing directors who command the organizations.
Parliamentarians want to place a point in the project of the new Pelé Law to review the weight of votes in the election criteria of these entities.
For the rapporteur of the proposal in the Chamber, it is not an interference of the Legislative in sports institutions, “since article 18-A of the Pelé Law does not oblige these private institutions [caso da CBF, que prefere não contar com verbas do governo para manter sua independência] to follow these rules, but establishes that, in order to receive public resources, they must have established governance requirements. Quite simply, the state as sponsor of these entities requires some conditions as in any sponsorship contract.”
At CBF, the entity’s General Assembly changed, in 2017, the weight of votes for electing the president of the house. The federations have a weight of 3, while the clubs in Series A and B have a weight of 2 and 1, respectively.
In a scenario where all federations vote together for a single candidate and all clubs diverge in favor of another candidate, the one who had the support of the state federative representations wins.
Specialist in sports law, lawyer João Marcelo Neves understands that the Federal Constitution provides autonomy for the sports issue, making room for excesses in regulations and organization of entities. In the jurist’s view, the autonomy of confederations is limited.
“The sports entity cannot treat sport as something without limitations, rules or principles based solely on this constitutionally listed autonomy”, he claims.
“The rule set [da CBF] it can violate the Principle of Isonomy, by giving different weights to the votes and making it difficult to alternate power”, he adds.
The change in the way in which football players’ image rights are managed is also in the view of parliamentarians. Currently, the benefit is limited to 40% of these athletes’ employment contract.
In the opinion of the reporter, the measure can give flexibility in the management of clubs and, consequently, greater remuneration for athletes. Felipe Carreras also believes that removing the percentage ceiling can give clubs freedom of negotiation and transparency about the law.
For entities representing athletes, the discussion needs to take into account the side of the sport’s protagonists.
“The root of legislative construction always comes with a big mistake. It is always how to improve the condition for the club and never for the athlete. This vision is problematic”, says Rinaldo Martorelli, president of the Union of Professional Athletes of São Paulo and of the Americas Division of the International Federation of Professional Footballers.
The category defends that the delay in the payment of image rights can open possibilities for the termination of the employment contract.
“When the delay comes, the clubs’ discourse is that the work contract is up to date, which is usually 10% of the total remuneration. They say that the image contract is something else and it isn’t,” he adds.
“It doesn’t matter the limit, if it’s 40% or another value, if the clubs have as a rule not to comply. We defend the fulfillment of the obligation”, he emphasizes.
The draft text also mentions the application of the training club requirement for everyone and mentions the tragedy that occurred in Flamengo’s Ninho do Urubu, in 2019 in Rio de Janeiro, where a fire resulted in the death of ten boys and left three injured. For the reporter, the objective is “to guarantee the athletes’ integrity and to avoid eventual tragedies like the one that happened in the vulture’s nest”.
“We understand that the demands that the Pelé Law already makes to training clubs should be extended to everyone. We emphasize that today only 38 clubs are in this category of the 650 in operation in the country”, says Deputy Felipe in the text of the initial draft of the new law.
The draft project also envisages doubling the allocation of lottery funds to the state sports secretariats from BRL 55 million, within the BRL 1 billion sent to the sports sector in general, to BRL 110 million.
Updating the legislation also impacts physical education professionals. According to the text, there will be exclusivity only for this group to be a physical education teacher. The special committee estimates that around 30% of those who teach the subject have no training in the area. The collegiate still wants to expand the workload of the subject to at least three classes a week in basic education.
Rapporteur Felipe Carreras also defends that the modalities of electronic competitions are recognized as sports manifestations, such as eSports.
Until the bill is voted on, without a defined date, deputies will hold public hearings to hear the parties mentioned in the bill, such as athletes, clubs, entities, directors and former athletes.
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