The Brazilian football club Flamengo has broadcast the match it played against the Volta Redonda team, for which it charged a subscription for those who are not members of the club. The broadcast and collection were initially scheduled to take place through the streaming platform MyCujoo, but, due to the high demand and complaints from those who entered, Flamengo decided to broadcast the match for free on FlaTV, the club’s official channel, available on Youtube.
The match between Flamengo and Volta Redonda took place due to the semi-finals of the Campeonato Carioca, which brings together clubs from Rio de Janeiro. Flamengo is the only one of the 12 participating clubs that does not have a current agreement with Grupo Globo, owner of the broadcasting rights of the competition, to broadcast their matches in the tournament. The last Copa Libertadores champion had broadcast its match against the Boavista club, which it played as the local team, this past July 1st, through YouTube and social networks. After the broadcast, Globo officially confirmed its decision to stop broadcasting the Campeonato Carioca, since, according to its point of view, the Brazilian company’s agreement with the clubs, supported by the Constitution, was violated.
Initially, Flamengo’s purpose for its match against Volta Redonda was that their members could access MyCujoo for free to have the broadcast available, while non-members of the club within Brazil had to pay a R$10 (USD 1.9) subscription, and those who wanted to access the match broadcast outside Brazil, had to pay R$ 43 (USD 8). As reported by the Brazilian press, the platform will compensate those non-members of Flamengo within Brazil, who paid the subscription.
Flamengo is using the TV rights of its local football matches because it does not have a current agreement with any channel. According to Provisional Measure (MP) N° 984, issued in June by the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, the TV rights for sports broadcasts remain with the local team, instead of belonging to the two clubs that play the match.