In recent days, Clube de Regatas do Flamengo filed a lawsuit requesting an injunction against the Brazilian Football League (LIBRA). The goal is to prevent Flamengo from suffering further losses due to the establishment of revenue-sharing criteria based on viewership that fail to recognize Flamengo's financial resource-generating power.

It's important to clarify that Flamengo, from the moment it joined LIBRA, agreed to a fairly even share of revenue from broadcast, image, and sound rights. Thus, 40% of revenue would be shared equally among all clubs, 30% would be divided according to the final standings in the Brazilian Serie A Championship, and 30% would be divided according to the audience generated by each club.

The LIBRA Statute provides for a legitimate right of veto (which belongs to Flamengo and all other clubs), requiring unanimous approval of the criteria for distributing the amounts owed to the clubs as part of the hearing. Furthermore, Annex 1 of the Statute provides for a guaranteed minimum revenue, corresponding to the revenues that the clubs earned from broadcasting rights in 2023.

To approve the distribution criteria, an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of LIBRA was held on 05/16/25, where Flamengo positioned itself against the revenue sharing scenario proposed by LIBRA, and the meeting was suspended without any deliberation.

The issue was revisited at a new AGM on August 26, 2025, when Flamengo and Volta Redonda voted against the LIBRA scenario, which grants Flamengo 20,41% of audience revenue, a figure far from reflecting the club's revenue-generating potential. For example, Flamengo's fan base among LIBRA clubs is 47%. Flamengo submitted its dissenting vote in writing.

Flamengo was always willing to seek an amicable solution to the problem and make some degree of concessions to reach an agreement, but the other clubs were intransigent and imposed a loss of over 100 million reais annually 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 non-compliance with the Statute and is, therefore, illegal, Flamengo had no alternative but to resort to the courts.

It should be noted that Flamengo has no interest in the litigation, as most of the deposited funds go to the club, which has the largest audience in the country. It's terrible for Flamengo that the revenues owed for audience fees are judicially withheld. However, it cannot agree with the absurd solution that LIBRA tyrannically seeks to implement, to the club's detriment.

Finally, it's not true that the judicial deposit of the funds will financially suffocate the other clubs. Remember that the process only involves 30% of the audience, and nothing prevents the receipt of the remaining 70%, as established in the contract.   

Flamengo reaffirms that its fight is for its representation to be respected, for LIBRA's decisions to be made within the rules set out in the Statute and the Law and for the history and value of each club to be recognized for their merits, in a fair and balanced manner.