A video conference between the vice president of Caixa Econômica Federal, Edílson Ribeiro Vianna, the president of the Mixed Parliamentary Front for Sport, Júlio César Ribeiro (PRN-DF), and the representative of the clubs of the four national divisions, the president of Bahia, Guilherme Belintani, started a bailout agreement for football. The project does not foresee the counterpart of transformation into a club-company, but advances in relation to the lottery funds Loteca, Timemania and future Lotex.
Football clubs receive 9.57% of each bet placed on Loteca (which has been paralyzed since March 16) and 22% of each bet on Timemania. But, in this second lottery, the money does not go directly to the clubs, being largely used in the reduction of their federal debts, especially those of the FGTS, the INSS of the Federal Revenue. Last year, approximately R$ 15 million (US$ 2.85m) were allocated to clubs through Loteca and R$ 60 million (US$ 11.3m) through Timemania.
The money goes to the account of the clubs (and others that benefit from the Lotteries, such as the COB and the former Ministry of Sports) about 15 days after the bets are placed. But the clubs want a significant advance, for a period not yet discussed with Caixa. If this advance is up to one year, this could be regulated by decree of the President of the Republic. If it is for more than a year, a bill is needed.
As the money would go to the clubs' accounts, affected by the coronavirus crisis it would no longer be used to pay federal taxes renegotiated by these associations. Last year, Timemania allocated just under R$ 2 million (US$ 375k) to each of the 20 clubs with the most players.
But clubs want more money. That is why they also asked Caixa to proceed with receipts from the future Lotex, a "scratch card" lottery. It will be operated by the Estrela Instantânea consortium (composed of IGT and Scientific Games), which won an auction held in October last year and should start selling tickets between June and July 2020. The clubs will retain 1.5% of the proceeds, which needs to be at least R$ 560 million (US$ 105m) per year, therefore, at least R$ 8.1 million (US$ 1.5m) per year for football.
Currently, funds are small and only a reform of the lotteries can make them representative, as was the Sports Lottery in the 1970s. According to federal deputy Júlio César Ribeiro (PRN-DF), "it is still under analysis. Caixa has not told us that it will do it. But by doing meetings like last Friday and this Monday, I understand that there is a pre-disposition to help", says the deputy. "We are working on the club’s accounts receivable to create advances that will be returned in the future," says the deputy.
The company-club issue is stalled in the Senate. There are two projects. One already approved in the Federal Chamber, by deputy Pedro Paulo (DEM-RJ), and another by lawyers Rodrigo Monteiro de Castro and José Francisco Manssur, presented at the Congress by Senator Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM-MG).
According to deputy Júlio César Ribeiro, he heard from deputy Pedro Paulo that it will be a priority from next week to move forward with projects in the Senate. But only after the approval of the war budget, which is being processed this week.
It seems even necessary to have relief measures for the sport, as it will happen for other industries. But it is always mandatory to think about the counterparts so that the clubs do not receive public money and repeat default as usual in history.
Caixa has not yet responded if it plans to advance money to the clubs. At the same time, the approval of the suspension of the counterpart would still need to be discussed with the federal government and/or with Congress. The next meeting between Caixa Econômica Federal, Parliamentary Sports Front and clubs from Series A, B, C and D should take place next Monday.
Source: GMB / UOL / Globoesporte
