According to a study published by British consulting firm EY, Brazil’s football economy will be severely damaged by the pandemic — with total financial losses expected of up to BRL 2 billion (USD 396 million).
It remains unclear when games will be allowed. And when they do, crowds will not be allowed for an undetermined amount of time — which will crush matchday revenue. TV deals are expected to raise 40 percent less money than last year. With fans battling rising unemployment and economic uncertainty, club memberships should also significantly drop.
“Player transfers will also be devalued. Clubs that sold players during the January transfer window, such as Athletico-PR and Flamengo, should be doing well now. Those that held off deals expecting to cash in later [during the summer window] are now in a tough spot,” Alexandre Rangel, author of the study, told the press.
In its most optimistic scenario, the study still forecasts BRL 1.34 billion in losses to the country’s football market, which would still set figures back to 2016 numbers.
As previously reported by The Brazilian Report, the Brazilian Club Federation (CBF) is set to provide a BRL 115 million credit line to clubs in the top two divisions of the Brazilian league to mitigate some of the financial losses clubs have undergone so far in 2020. Yet, the amount will hardly suffice as the first division will receive the bulk of the money (BRL 100 million) in loans, whereas smaller clubs will be largely left to fend for themselves.
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