Globo chose to broadcast the Atlético-MG x Bahia game on Open TV only to Minas Gerais and Bahia. It deprived most of the public of a beautiful spectacle: a turnaround in five minutes that led the team from Minas Gerais to win the national cup. More than that, the decision harms the Brazilian product.
Globo’s choices are made due to the possibility of obtaining an audience with the matches. Atlético-MG is not a team with national fans: Atleticans are concentrated only in Minas. Therefore, the network made a purely economic decision: it would probably have lower ratings than the soap operas that took its place.
Now, and who defends the interest of the Brazilian as a product? From the point of view of competition, of its valorization, the transmission on the national network of the vital match, of the title, is essential in the dissemination. That’s the only way to understand the importance of the championship for the country.
But there is no one defending the Brazilian’s interest as is done in other elite national leagues. Around the world, competition owners, in this case clubs, determine how the games package will be, divided by platform or broadcaster. Obviously, rights buyers have a voice and choice over games.
It doesn’t mean that games go on open TV. There are entire championships broadcast only on Closed TV or streaming. The point is that there is an overall strategy for increasing the value of competition.
In the context of Brazil, in which Globo holds almost all the rights, the prime place to put on a decisive game would be at night broadcast on national television. It is certainly not ideal to relegate to the product the departure of the title to 6:00 pm on a Thursday, restricted to the Premiere in most of the country. The broadcaster has the power to change times and days of games with the CBF.
Remember that entities such as UEFA and Conmebol sign contracts that require a certain level of exhibition for their most decisive matches. And they distribute the games in order to value the competition more and more, not hide it, in favor of the partner’s profit. There needs to be a balance in this relationship with rights buyer.
Nobody will wait for a decision from the CBF to try to preserve the Brazilian – nor does it avoid conflicts with the national team’s games. In fact, the confederation does not own the broadcasting rights to the games. Its performance is also limited for that reason.
That’s why it’s so vital that clubs move forward with building the league to organize the Brazilian. Only with the unified structuring of the competition by the associations will there be a strategy to value Serie A. It is even possible that the best decision was not to broadcast the game on Open TV. But there would certainly not be an option to hide the match.
Remember, valuing the Brazilian is to earn more money with the tournament, which is reflected in the clubs’ coffers. In an indirect way, Globo’s decision harms all teams. Even those national teams that have all their title games on Open TV.
