Should Brazil adapt its national football calendar to the European football calendar?
YES
DELAIR DUMBROSCKPresident Lula was right once again to raise the discussion about possible changes to the Brazilian football calendar. It is crucial to break old taboos and adopt measures capable of improving our performance and maximizing club revenue. Each season, we witness a veritable dismantling of our teams, significantly altering the balance of competitions in full swing. This discourages fans and devalues the championship, in addition to not representing a revenue increase similar to what could be generated if the calendar allowed clubs to develop initiatives capable of generating new revenue.
It's worth remembering that, until very recently, the Brazilian championship had never been played with the same format for two years in a row, there was no longer one South American competition and the state championships were replaced by regional leagues.
In other words, our calendar does not even have a tradition strong enough to curb a reflection capable of improving the sporting and economic performance of Brazilian football.
Adapting to European dates means aligning producer and consumer markets.
It certainly doesn't represent a barrier to the exodus of our athletes, but it will significantly reduce the dismantling of teams mid-competition, which will be greatly appreciated by Brazilian fans.
The current calendar also creates a significant financial imbalance by forcing major Brazilian clubs to participate in South American competitions at a high opportunity cost.
If there is a change in the calendar, our clubs will certainly be in Asia, the USA and other markets, carrying out their pre-seasons with European teams and generating new revenue, or even promoting international tournaments in our country.\ Recently, the Club of 13 created a working group - formed by Flamengo, Palmeiras, São Paulo, Corinthians, Vasco and Grêmio - to study ways of restructuring the social and financial aspects of Brazilian clubs.\
This is the first time that voluntary reflection on the issue has been promoted, and the situation could not be better, as sport has received the attention of all sectors of government and society.
The group has already begun discussing several topics, such as corporate governance of Brazilian clubs, the strengthening of the football supply chain, the licensing system implemented by UEFA, the 2014 World Cup as a catalyst for football development in the country, and the calendar, which is one of the most important points, as it is the key, directly or indirectly, to all football clubs' revenues. Competitions are the main product, the driving force behind all club activities.
It is important to emphasize that, although simply changing the calendar is not the solution to all of Brazilian football's problems, it is undoubtedly a good starting point.
That is why we see with great joy and hope this mobilization of the government, the Legislature - which is processing a project that changes the Pelé Law in important and urgent points -, the CBF, the Club of 13, the athletes and the market, in particular the large communication groups interested in football, which will only bring benefits to the country.
The 2014 World Cup cannot pass through Brazil without leaving a legacy for the clubs. We need to learn a lesson from the Pan American Games, whose legacy was closed and underutilized arenas, velodromes, and other facilities, while the clubs that develop and train Olympic athletes continue without any support or improvements to their facilities. Hosting the World Cup will have to foster the necessary transformations in Brazilian soccer, so that we don't continue to see our stars leaving the country earlier and earlier.