It is very likely that Liga Forte Futebol will sign a contract with the investment fund formed by Serengeti and LCP next week. This perspective causes an earthquake in the structure of Libra, the association that has all the big clubs in Rio and São Paulo, except Fluminense.
The earthquake is caused by Libra’s own mistakes, such as hampering the revenue sharing debate. All successful championships in the world have this premise.
Libra bet on an association with the Mubadala group, from the United Arab Emirates, and bet that Forte Futebol would not find an investor.
When he woke up, the group formed by Atlético-MG, Internacional, Fluminense, Fortaleza and 22 other important clubs already had their partner, with a 2% more profitable proposal and, above all, the entire distribution of detailed quotas.
For it, the strongest will collect, at most, 3.5 times more than the weakest.
The result is to see Cruzeiro, Grêmio, Vasco and Botafogo as attentive observers and eager to exchange Libra for Forte Futebol. All this can happen from next week.
Whenever the subject is the creation of a League, in Brazil, the key word is hope. The expectation is to build a new structure in which economic, not political, values prevail. It was what businessman Flávio Zveiter, founder of Libra, proposed when he started to deal with the subject, before becoming director of CBF.
He traveled to Europe, understood the processes, bought the rights to the book “The Club” and published it in Brazil under the title “A Liga”. The work of journalists Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg is a brilliant account of the creation of the Premier League, based on many stories told before in publications such as “The Illustrated History of Football”, a book of reports from The Sunday Times newspaper.
For someone who was a footnote reader, every new work seems to bring unpublished information.
Forte Futebol defined spreadsheets, determined that 50% of the revenues will be divided equally, 25% for performance and 25% for engagement, and specified every detail of what this might mean. The Libra advantage is having the big ones. The downside is having bet on political relations and the little ones’ history of pindaíba.
If Forte Futebol did not get investors, the small ones would ask for a break. Only that the contribution appeared and the criteria of Forte Futebol are more in-depth, and that attracts the most attentive managers.
What has most unbalanced financial sharing in Brazil is pay-per-view. When the current agreement was signed, the perspective was of growth in value, which reached R$ 600 million and today stands at R$ 380 million. At the signing, the minimum was guaranteed for the teams with the biggest crowds. Today, Flamengo has approximately R$170 million and Corinthians is close to R$120 million. That is, 75% of what is collected.
Palmeiras, powerful today, is not one of the most profitable. It would be enough for Leila Pereira to do the math to understand that her distance to Flamengo will soon put her at a disadvantage. This also applies to São Paulo and Santos.
The League needs to be born and quickly. It doesn’t matter which group wins. It is fundamental to have everyone, from Series A and B, together, in a single package, for future negotiations. It is possible to dream in Brazil of the fifth, perhaps the fourth, possibly the third best championship in the world, behind only England and Spain.
At this moment, Forte Futebol seems more organized and capable of creating a league in which economic parameters override politics.
As a seasoned news journalist, I bring a wealth of experience to the field. I’ve worked with world-renowned news organizations, honing my skills as a writer and reporter. Currently, I write for the sports section at News Bulletin 247, where I bring a unique perspective to every story.
