Flamengo win TV money injunction, halt payments, Libra respond | OneFootball

Flamengo is at the center of another dispute behind the scenes of Brazilian football. The Rio club has filed a lawsuit and obtained an injunction in the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice to block the transfer of R$ 77 million from a portion of the Brasileirão broadcast rights that would be distributed to the clubs of Libra, an entity formed by Palmeiras, Bragantino, São Paulo, Santos, Atlético-MG, Bahia, Grêmio, Vitória, Remo, Paysandu, ABC, Guarani, and Sampaio Corrêa.

The reason for the action, according to Flamengo, is dissatisfaction with the criteria adopted by Libra to divide TV revenues, especially the 30% slice linked to pay-per-view audience. The club argues that the current division does not adequately recognize its revenue-generating power, which represents about 47% of the total fan base of the league's teams, and claims to have tried to resolve the impasse amicably before resorting to the courts.

In a statement, Flamengo emphasizes that the Libra statute guarantees all clubs the right to veto revenue sharing criteria, but its objections were not respected at the league's assemblies, held in May and August of this year.

"Flamengo has always been willing to seek an amicable solution, but the other clubs were intransigent, imposing a loss of over 100 million reais per year on the club," the statement said.

Libra repudiates

Libra criticized Flamengo's action, which blocked financial transfers from the league, and described the measure as unilateral and harmful to clubs that depend on this money for cash flow, bill payment, and salaries. The entity also stated that Flamengo's argument about loss does not match the club's financial situation and serves its own short-term interests, to the detriment of the group.

"The entity, along with its clubs, aims to protect the interests of the vast majority of clubs that believe in joint construction, respect for agreements, and the strengthening of Brazilian football," it wrote.

The league reaffirmed its commitment to serving the interests of its members and respecting already agreed collective decisions, maintaining the current distribution model. Libra emphasized that any legal dispute is directed exclusively at Flamengo's current management, preserving respect for the club's history and its fans.

Impacts of Rubro-Negro's action

The financial impact of the dispute is already a concern for clubs like Vitória. In a statement, President Fábio Mota explained that if the criterion defended by Flamengo is applied, the Leão would stop receiving about R$ 8 million per year. Therefore, the Bahian club has chosen to migrate to the LFU from 2029, an entity that offers 35% more revenue than Libra. Until then, it will continue to receive the usual amounts from Libra.

While the dispute is in court, Rede Globo should deposit in court the amounts under discussion, which could reach R$ 230 million if the blockage extends until the end of the year. Libra has appealed the decision and is trying to reverse the injunction, keeping the dispute open.

Read Flamengo's full statement

"Clube de Regatas do Flamengo has filed a lawsuit in recent days, with a request for an injunction, against the Brazilian Football League - LIBRA. The aim is to prevent Flamengo from suffering additional losses due to the establishment of revenue division criteria by audience that do not recognize the financial resource generating power of Flamengo.

It is important to make clear that Flamengo, from the moment it joined LIBRA, agreed to divide the revenues from broadcasting rights, image and sound in a very balanced way. Thus, 40% of the revenues would be shared equally among all clubs, 30% would be shared according to the final classification in the Brazilian Championship Series A and 30% would be divided according to the audience generated by each club.

There is a provision in the LIBRA Statute for a legitimate right of veto (which applies to Flamengo and all other clubs), requiring unanimous approval of the revenue sharing criteria due to the audience. In addition, there is in Annex 1 of the Statute the provision of a minimum guaranteed revenue, corresponding to the revenues that the clubs obtained for the broadcasting rights in the year 2023.

For the approval of the revenue sharing criterion, an Extraordinary General Assembly (AGE) of LIBRA was held on 16/05/25, where Flamengo positioned itself against the revenue division scenario proposed by LIBRA, with the meeting being suspended without any deliberation.

The issue was resumed at a new AGE, on 26/08/25, when Flamengo and Volta Redonda voted against the scenario defended by LIBRA, which grants Flamengo 20.41% of the audience revenue, which is far from representing the club's revenue-generating power. For example, the size of Flamengo's fan base among LIBRA's clubs is 47%. On this occasion, Flamengo delivered its dissenting vote in writing.

Flamengo has always been willing to seek an amicable solution to the problem and to make some degree of concession to reach an agreement, but the other clubs were intransigent and imposed a loss of over 100 million reais per year on Flamengo, which represents a loss of 37% compared to the previous contract.

Given LIBRA's insistence on imposing this scenario, even with the opposing votes of Flamengo and Volta Redonda, which constitutes a breach of the Statute and is therefore illegal, Flamengo had no other alternative but to resort to the courts.

It should be noted that Flamengo has no interest in litigation, as the majority of the deposited values belong to the club, which has the highest audience in the country. It is terrible for Flamengo that the revenues due to audience are judicially retained. However, it is not possible to agree with the absurd solution that LIBRA wishes to implement, tyrannically, to the detriment of the club.

Finally, it is not true that the judicial deposit of the values will financially suffocate the other clubs. Remember that the process involves only the 30% of audience, nothing preventing the receipt of the other 70%, as established in the contract.

Flamengo reaffirms that its fight is for its representativeness to be respected, that LIBRA's decisions are made within the rules provided in the Statute and the Law and that the history and value of each club are recognized for their merits, in a fair and balanced way."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.