The year began once again with a scenario of uncertainties in the economic sphere for Brazilian and even world football clubs. The new wave of the Omicron variant spreads faster than the Delta, which we see in 2020. However, scientific evidence points to a lower severity. For prevention, governors have already announced a reduction in the public for the beginning of the State’s torunaments, such as São Paulo.
In a year in which clubs finally dreamed and envisioned having the potential to seek to recover the holes and losses of the last two years, uncertainty is present. And when we talk about revenue generation, sponsorship is among the main ones.
Currently, there is only one segment present in practically all clubs in Series A and B of the Brazilian Championship. I'm talking about the sports betting market. There are 35 clubs out of the 40 we have in the two main leagues in the country.
If we look at it macro, the segment also stands out. In a recent study carried out by Jambo Sport Business, which analyzed the master sponsorships of 1st division teams from 32 countries in the 2021-22 season, the sports betting branch was also in first place.
However, not everything is perfect. Sports entities need to be very attentive to agreements that may arise. As this is a market without regulation in the country, several companies are emerging with the objective of branding, gaining market share and, thus, being acquired by one of the major players abroad. And if this operation does not materialize, they will not be able to afford what is being promised.
The lack of regulation still favors the performance of this type of operator, without any structure, exposing bettors to possible fraud and data leaks.
I recently received a demand from a company in this field that intended to sponsor one of our influencers, when the legal department carried out the “background check” (normal attitude to check the suitability and ability to pay the contract), concluded that the company had been created 15 days ago, in the interior of Paraíba, at a non-existent address and with capital below the size of the operation.
Therefore, the tendency is for the regulation to be a watershed in the Brazilian scenario, after all, it will enhance the investment capacity of large players and possibly end the performance of small operators once and for all.
We wait for the scenes of the next chapters...
Bernardo Pontes
Professor of Sports Management and partner at Alob Sports, a sports company that makes up the Non Stop Group, specialized in connecting athletes and personalities to brands. In his last professional experience, he worked as a marketing executive for Flamengo and has already worked for other clubs, such as Cruzeiro, Vasco and Fluminense.
Source: Máquina do Esporte
