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Breakaway league in Brazil

The presidents of  Brazil’s six top-flight clubs — Flamengo, Corinthians, Palmeiras, Sao Paulo, Santos and Red Bull Bragantino — have proposed a breakaway league, to be run by the clubs themselves rather than Brazil’s creaking federation, the CBF.

They promised better organisation, a slicker commercial structure and, via a revenue-distribution model that would mark a major departure from the usual tooth-and-nail partisanship, a brighter financial outlook for all. They called it the Liga do Futebol Brasileiro — Libra for short.

One encouraging sign is a new ownership model that has been thought up specifically for football clubs, promising to make them more corporate, more sustainable and even — whisper it quietly — profitable.

Another is the recent influx of foreign investment into Brazilian clubs. John Textor, the co-owner of Crystal Palace, acquired Botafogo earlier this year; Miami-based 777 Partners have taken a controlling stake in Vasco; Red Bull has put significant resources into Bragantino. The City Football Group has also been looking closely at Bahia, and those who follow football finances closely believe that further takeovers are inevitable.

Under Libra, all broadcast income, including that from pay per view, would be pooled for revenue sharing. Forty per cent of the total would be split evenly between the 20 Serie A clubs; 30 per cent would be distributed according to league performance; 30 per cent would be divided according to a range of engagement and audience factors.

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