{"id":191,"date":"2022-05-18T02:47:19","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T05:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noticias-gerais.online\/?p=191"},"modified":"2023-02-21T23:34:03","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T02:34:03","slug":"o-futebol-brasileiro-esta-acorrentado-este-e-o-momento-da-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noticias-gerais.online\/en\/o-futebol-brasileiro-esta-acorrentado-este-e-o-momento-da-premier-league\/","title":{"rendered":"'Brazilian football is in chains' \u2013 is this the Premier League's moment?"},"content":{"rendered":"

History doesn't always look like history. On an indescribable weekday morning earlier this month, a group of men and women in suits entered a hotel in S\u00e3o Paulo. A few hours and several liters of coffee later, they left in a line. To the untrained eye, they looked like the bookends at a generic big-city business meeting. Buy low, sell high, adjust those KPIs until we're all submerged.<\/span><\/p>\n

But no, this one was different \u2013 much more interesting and much more important. In that hotel, the foundations were laid for a plan that could revolutionize Brazilian football.<\/span><\/p>\n

Together, the presidents of six first-division clubs \u2013 Flamengo, Corinthians, Palmeiras, S\u00e3o Paulo, Santos, and Red Bull Bragantino \u2013 proposed a breakaway league, to be run by the clubs themselves, not by the Brazilian federation, the CBF. They promised better organization, a more elegant commercial structure, and, through a revenue distribution model that would mark a significant departure from the usual tooth-and-nail partisanship, a brighter financial outlook for all. They called it the Brazilian Football League \u2013 Libra for short.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the future,\u201d exclaimed Palmeiras president Leila Pereira. A few details still prevent a unanimous agreement, but there\u2019s a whiff of dizzying excitement in the air. After decades of mediocrity, Brazilian football is on the verge of its own Premier League moment \u2013 and not just because its followers admire the English model with a fervor bordering on religious devotion.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the butcher Hemingway, change happens in two ways: gradually and then suddenly.<\/span><\/p>\n

In widescreen view, this has been going on for a long time. You could fill a book with the weaknesses that have hampered Brazilian domestic football over the decades, but a decent list would include idiotic club owners, rubbish pitches, endemic short-term vision, corruption, fan violence, an outdated calendar \u2013 Brazil lagged behind in adopting a round-robin league format in 2003 but still needs to reduce its bloated and increasingly irrelevant state championships \u2013 and finances that defy logic. Add to that the football federation, whose ability to move forward under the weight of its own scandals would be impressive if it weren't so damaging, and you have a perfect recipe for stagnation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Things have improved somewhat in recent years, but not enough. When images from other leagues are broadcast to Brazilian homes, the quality deficit is hard to ignore. It's not just the football that's better \u2013 the kits are smarter, the graphics more eye-catching, the stadiums more lively, the grass literally greener.<\/span><\/p>\n

This cuts things off in two ways. On the one hand, a Brazilian Championship game is harder to sell to a generation of Brazilians accustomed to watching Manchester City vs. Liverpool on Saturdays and El Clasico on Sundays. Walk around Rio de Janeiro today and you're likely to see a Chelsea shirt just like you'd see a Fluminense or Vasco da Gama shirt \u2013 a fact that would have been unthinkable (not to say unacceptable to a certain generation of Rio residents) 20 years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, clubs can always count on a considerable local fan base. Perhaps the biggest problem is the ground that has been lost in the battle for more distant eyeballs. The Brazilian national team is a global institution, but its domestic game barely registers beyond the odd Club World Cup match.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe never sell our football abroad,\u201d said Mario Celso Petraglia, president of Athletico Paranaense, to The Athletic. \u201cOur teams are not known worldwide. This is a terrible failure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Proponents of the new league hope it will solve this \u2013 initially by selling TV rights packages more aggressively overseas, but also by improving the \u201cproduct\u201d itself so that it can compete with Ligue 1 or, eventually, Serie A or the Bundesliga.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is clearly much easier said than done. Even in the best-case scenario, we're probably talking decades rather than years. But there's a new impetus here. New energy too, thanks to a set of accelerating factors.<\/span><\/p>\n

One is a new ownership model specifically designed for football clubs, promising to make them more corporate, more sustainable, and even \u2013 whisper quietly \u2013 profitable. Another is the recent influx of foreign investment into Brazilian clubs. John Textor, co-owner of Crystal Palace, acquired Botafogo earlier this year; Miami-based 777 Partners took a controlling stake in Vasco; Red Bull has invested significant resources in Bragantino. The City Football Group has also been closely watching Bahia, and those who closely follow football finances believe that further acquisitions are inevitable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Above all, there's the tide of professionalism that has swept away some of the cobwebs in the corridors of power. If the cast of characters who gathered in that S\u00e3o Paulo hotel seemed like students of numerical calculations, it's because that's exactly what they are. The boastful bosses of yesteryear are now a dying breed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe club owners used to be populist amateurs,\u201d explains Rodrigo Capelo, who covers the financial side of Brazilian football for the newspaper O Globo. \u201cThey weren\u2019t always the most intellectual. The new wave is a bit different. They are rational businessmen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There is broad consensus that the clubs themselves, together with investors and external consultants, can do a better job of organizing a championship than the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation). But the success of Libra will ultimately be judged by the chicken-and-egg dance of profits and output: if revenues increase, clubs can put more money into their fields and playing teams, which should improve football, which should attract more fans, which should increase revenues, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

The influence of the new league lies in the formalization of a collective bargaining agreement. Since 2011, when a bloc of major hitters called the Club of 13 broke up, Brazilian clubs have signed broadcast contracts individually. At first glance, this was good for players like Flamengo and Corinthians, who could profit from their huge fan bases across Brazil, but it left the ecosystem as a whole fragmented and weakened. It was particularly disastrous for smaller clubs, widening the gap between rich and poor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Things improved somewhat in 2019 when clubs began distributing a portion of TV revenue equally. This helped modest teams like Cear\u00e1 and Fortaleza consolidate after being promoted to the first division. But since pay-per-view revenue wasn't part of this agreement, significant inequality persists. Add to that national and international cup competitions, which naturally favor the best teams as well, and the picture becomes even bleaker. According to a report by Ernst & Young, a quarter of all TV revenue received by Brazilian clubs between 2017 and 2021 went to just two teams \u2013 Flamengo and Palmeiras. \u201cA financial abyss,\u201d called Fluminense president Mario Bittencourt, and it's hard to disagree.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, however, there is a chance to restore balance. Under Libra, all broadcast revenue, including pay-per-view, would be pooled for revenue sharing. Forty-five percent of the total would be divided equally among the 20 Serie A clubs; 30 percent would be distributed according to league performance; and 30 percent would be divided according to a range of engagement and audience factors.<\/span><\/p>\n

There has been a heated debate about these figures in the last fortnight. So far, only 10 of the 40 clubs in the top two divisions have joined the Libra campaign. The others have united to demand more favorable conditions. They want the ratio to be 45:30:25 instead of 40:30:30. They want the performance-based portion itself to be more equitable and more money for Serie B.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, these seem to be surmountable obstacles. After all, the overall effect of even the most conservative measures, according to Capelo's calculations, would constitute a significant leveling of the playing field. In 2019, the last season before COVID-19, Flamengo, which won the Brazilian Championship, earned nine times more than Ava\u00ed, which finished 20th. Even in the last two years marked by the pandemic, the multiple was between six and seven. Under Libra, it would fall below four.<\/span><\/p>\n

It's no wonder that even the resistant ones are optimistic. Take Marcelo Paz, president of Fortaleza, who, despite not yet having registered, calls the new league "a necessity" and is visibly excited about the potential benefits for clubs like his.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be a turning point for football in this country,\u201d Paz told The Athletic. \u201cWe are finally adopting the same model that the best leagues in the world use. It\u2019s a big step forward.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk a lot about the English model. Look at Aston Villa: they are a mid-table club, but they can buy Philippe Coutinho, a player from Brazil. This new league represents a better deal for mid-table teams; it will help them be more competitive and reach new heights.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

It's not so obvious what Flamengo and Palmeiras can gain here. Thanks in large part to experienced management, both have entered virtuous cycles of growth and success in the last decade, distancing themselves from the chasing pack to such an extent that some in Brazil \u2013 ironically, given the current deification of La Liga's financial structure \u2013 are worried about the "spanification" of the league. Why would they give up that kind of dominance?<\/span><\/p>\n

Clearly, this is not an act of charity. Their bet is long-term: by sacrificing a little now, they can bring in even more money later. And perhaps, with a bit of luck, they will become global brands like Barcelona, \u200b\u200bBayern Munich, and Juventus.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is recognition that the current set of individual TV deals is too confusing, too fragmented to be an attractive proposition for, say, a global streaming service like Amazon. Acceptance, too, that fans in Europe and the US will be more interested in watching Flamengo vs. S\u00e3o Paulo if the stands are full, the performance lackluster, and S\u00e3o Paulo truly competitive.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, what is especially encouraging in the current discussions is that they are underpinned by humility, not by the mute and insular pride that led the former head of the CBF, Jos\u00e9 Maria Marin, to declare, back in 2013, that "we have nothing to learn from other countries." There is now a willingness to look to the world and adopt best practices from elsewhere. And, yes, a belated recognition that Brazil has been stuck behind the ball for far too long.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited,\u201d says Capelo. \u201cUntil recently, when people talked about how the major European leagues worked, it was purely theoretical. Brazilian football has maintained its own pace. We wasted a lot of time going in circles.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow, finally, all the club presidents are aligned. This is a huge difference compared to before. This can help small and medium-sized clubs become financially stable, which they have never had in Brazil. After that, there are other issues to be addressed: the reorganization of the calendar and state championships; fair financial play. But you can't do any of this without collective action. This is a fundamental step.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Petraglia, president of Athletico Paranaense, is even more emphatic. "Brazilian football is shackled," he concludes. "This will be a liberation."\u201c<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A hist\u00f3ria nem sempre parece hist\u00f3rica.\u00a0Em uma manh\u00e3 indescrit\u00edvel de um dia de semana no in\u00edcio deste m\u00eas, um grupo de homens e mulheres de terno entrou em um hotel em S\u00e3o Paulo.\u00a0Algumas horas e v\u00e1rios litros de caf\u00e9 depois, eles sa\u00edram em fila.\u00a0Para os olhos destreinados, eles pareciam os suportes de livros de uma […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-futebol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noticias-gerais.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noticias-gerais.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noticias-gerais.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noticias-gerais.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noticias-gerais.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/noticias-gerais.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noticias-gerais.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noticias-gerais.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noticias-gerais.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}