Officials from at least 6 of the 20 clubs contesting the competition have been upset by the attitudes of the confederation and the company, which wants to include the transfer of broadcast rights of the championship to bookmakers. A commission made up of eight teams received Sport Promotion's offer at a CBF meeting on Monday (22).
"On Tuesday we received the document to sign up to Wednesday, and added something more about bets, out of the original scope," said Francisco Battistotti, president of Avaí.
As an argument to reject the change, the manager uses the same justification for eliminating Prudent's tender in the last phase of competition by extending the original scope of the contract. The competitor wanted to include exploring the image of clubs in virtual games.
The fund with headquarters in the United States and Luxembourg had offered R$ 230 million (US$ 58m) per year, in a 10-year contract totaling R$ 2.3 billion (US$ 580m), with immediate payments of R$ 800 million (US$ 200m) to the teams. The proposal was much larger than the one made by Sport Promotion, of R$ 160 million (US$ 40m) per year, in a five years deal.
"They canceled the Prudent proposal because it was intended to add games in the deal, and the fight of the audit staff who analyzed the documentation was that it could not modify the original contract,” Battistotti said.
Until last week, all clubs were willing to sign the contract for the sale of international rights. However, after the CBF sent out a statement on the inclusion of betting sites, some backed off. Four officials confirmed they were dissatisfied with the change in scope.
"We had a club committee and decided we could not change the original scope. How it is possible to change it now? It's against of what was originally decided. We voted against," said Wagner Pires de Sá, president of Cruzeiro. He also suggested postponing the signing of the contract for the second half of the year, with a readjustment of the value of the agreement. "I'm calling other clubs not to sign, it's over the top of the championship."
There are clubs, on the other hand, who have accepted the change. "Chapecoense will sign the agreement, even with the change of scope, because there’s not enough time for change. I received a consultation from the CBF, it was a request for us to inform our position without any imposition. It turns out that most clubs already have this resource," said club president’s Plinio David de Nes Filho. Others chose to settle the matter with each other. "Corinthians will decide internally," said President Andres Sanchez.
According to lawyer Bruno Fagali, a specialist in public law and compliance, even if the inclusion of betting sites is accompanied by a financial addition to the clubs, the isonomy and integrity of the dispute have been violated. "This is because other companies that participated in the dispute, if they knew, could have made even better offers than that of Sport Promotion," he said.
The Serie A clubs have also been reluctant to sign another contract won by Sport Promotion in a competition organized by CBF regarding the exploitation of static advertising boards in Brazil.
Palmeiras and Athletico-PR have already said they will not accept the agreement. The team from São Paulo must carry out its own service in the exploration of static advertising in Allianz Parque stadium, but did not want to confirm or comment on the subject. Athletico has not yet defined what to do but refuses to win less than other teams.
"There is a big difference between the values that Corinthians and Flamengo are going to receive in relation to the other clubs. Flamengo has no stadium, we need to stop it, in Brazil everything is Flamengo and Corinthians," said Mario Celso Petraglia, President of Athletico-PR.
Corinthians and Flamengo agreed with Sport Promotion to explore the banner boards for R$ 12 million (US$3m) a year each. The contract offered to the other 18 clubs is about R$ 55 million (US$13.8m) per season, which would result in about R$ 3 million (US$ 755,000) for each one, a quarter of the value that the two teams with the largest crowd in the country would receive.
Another who must refuse to sign the agreement is Cruzeiro. According to its president, the club already receives more than the offered in other contracts. "We either negotiate separately or do it ourselves. Only with our sponsors we would have eight guaranteed contracts," said Wagner Pires de Sá.
The Sport Promotion agreement with Corinthians and Flamengo was signed in August of last year. At the time, they did not want to participate in the settlement with BR Foot Mídia, winner of the first bidding organized by CBF. The process was canceled by the confederation after the company failed to pay the promised amounts.
CBF was asked to talk about the change in scope, but it did not manifest itself. Ernst & Young, hired by the entity to audit the bidding, is at the forefront of the negotiations. The company also did not comment, as did Sport Promotion. In a note that reached the club presidents on the subject, according to them sent by the CBF, and to which the report had access, the entity says that the audit was shown against the change and left the decision at the discretion of the clubs.
"EY took a stand showing that this right was clearly excluded from both the notice and the contractual draft and that in the view of compliance the procedure was prejudiced mainly considering the lack of equality with the tenderer who participated in the proceeding. It was also put by EY that any change should have formal approval from all clubs involved," the message said. In the same note, the CBF calls for a meeting with all clubs to discuss the matter.
"The holding of the plenary is mandatory, considering that it was the decision of the same collegiate to maintain the scope of the public notice. In addition, it is very important to register and formalize the decision of the clubs, holders of the rights, to maintain the integrity of the process. CBF will convene the clubs to hold the plenary next week, probably on Tuesday (30) "
Source: Folhapress
