Corinthians is inclined to close with the Liga Forte União

O Corinthians is inclined to accept the proposal of the Liga Forte Uniãoand join the group of teams that already has clubs such as Vasco, Botafogo, Internacional, Cruzeiro, Fluminense and Fortaleza for the sale of broadcasting rights for the Brazilian Football Championship between 2025 and 2029.

The reason is the Globe and the broadcaster’s advanced conversation with the Lb. The league led by Flamengo, Palmeiras, Santos and São Paulo, signed a pre-contract with the broadcaster last Friday (1). The Parque São Jorge team refused, because they want a guarantee that they will have returns close to or equal to those of Rio’s Rubro-Negro.

Globo and Libra promise advance funds of around R$600 million at the time of final signing, but there is no way to guarantee funds close to Flamengo, due to sporting performance, an important criterion for the new division of money.

Corinthians’ claim is that the team tends to have more audiences in São Paulo than Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro. Behind the scenes, this consideration is seen as a half-truth, especially in recent years.

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In 2023, for example, Corinthians had nine Brazilian Championship games on open TV, and achieved 23 audience points in Greater São Paulo, according to a survey carried out by F5. The number was lower because Corinthians played the Copa Sudamericana, and had several matches on Tuesday nights.

Corinthians tied with Palmeiras, Brazilian champion of the last two years, in average audience. But Alviverde obtained the numbers with the most games shown: there were 14 matches in total. Each point is equivalent to 191 thousand viewers.

In Rio de Janeiro, the Flamengo achieved an average of 26 audience points in 2023, with 12 broadcasts, even beating Botafogo, which competed for the national title for a large part of the championship. The Estrela Solitária club had fewer matches shown on open TV (11 games) than Fla and Fluminense (12 games).

To raise more due to a strong financial crisis, Corinthians understands that the dispersion of its broadcasting rights would be more beneficial to the collection. This is what Liga Forte União promises, which will share sales, without closing with a single group.

In Libra, hope is not lost yet. The interpretation is that Corinthians is playing hard to get some more funding from Globo. The decision of who the team with the second biggest fans in the country will stay depends solely on its president, Augusto Melo, who is expected to make the final decision in the coming days.

Brazilian football

Liga Forte Futebol will share the sale of TV rights to raise more than R$1 billion