River Plate, one of the most traditional and victorious clubs of South American football, recently officialized its new master sponsorship contract with Betano. The debut of the new sponsor at the uniform took place on Sunday (4), in the 4-1 win over Vélez Sarsfield, in a match valid for the Argentine Championship. The agreement, which is worth until mid -2027, provides for the annual payment of US $ 6 million – about R $ 36 million.
Despite representing an 80% increase over the previous contract, the amount is still significantly lower than at least half of the Serie A teams of the Brazilian Championship currently.
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This discrepancy opens the distance that opened between the sports sponsorship markets of Brazil and Argentina and explains part of the green and yellow predominance in Libertadores in recent years.
Boca Juniors, River’s biggest rival, is also sponsored by a bookmaker – Betson – and receives similar values, around $ 40 million per year. Racing, the current champion of the South American Cup and Recopa, has even smaller figures: about $ 12 million annually with the same sponsor.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, the amounts paid by master sponsors are exponentially larger, driven by a more robust market, the advancement of betting houses in the country and the growing professionalization of club management.
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Flamengo leads the list, with a contract of $ 115 million per year with Pixbet – the largest in the country. Corinthians, with Lucky Sports, receives about R $ 103 million, while Palmeiras earns approximately R $ 100 million annually with Sportingbet. The three largest contracts in Brazil, alone, surpass in a long way to receive all the great Argentine clubs added.
“This is a scenario that shows the strength of the Brazilian market. I believe it is five times larger than Argentine, which is naturally reflected in sponsorship values,” says Renê Salviano, CEO of Heatmap and sports marketing expert.
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In a ranking, River and Boca, Argentina’s two largest teams would enter teams such as Fortaleza and Bahia, which are rising teams, but still far from getting the expression of Argentine giants, including markets like the European, where the two clubs get more penetration than almost all Brazilians.
Grêmio and Internacional, in turn, earn $ 50 million each year with their sponsors and are also above the neighbors on the border.
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According to Alexandre Godoy, Head of Sponsorship and Advertising from the International, the recent regulation of bets in Brazil also collaborated for this growth. “It brought legal certainty, social responsibility and transparency to the parties involved. This values the brand assets of the clubs.”
Wolff Sports, Fábio Wolff, explains that the disparity is also due to the economic moment of each country. “The difference between the invested values currently occurs due to greater investment of betting houses in Brazil, in addition to the size of the populations and the average income available.”
Sport recently closed its biggest sponsorship in history, with a fixed value that comes close to the $ 30 million and can get to $ 70 million if it reaches goals.
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The fixed value is lower the mouth and River, but is very close to the level when it is placed on the scale that the team of Recife has just climbed to the first division, as highlighted by the team’s vice president of marketing, Eduardo Arruda.
“The appreciation of sponsorships in the country is not just about economic or technical issues. It is mainly through the restructuring of Brazilian clubs, transformation into SAFs, modernization of arenas and training centers. This gives security to the sponsor, as happened with Sport,” he said.
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For Thiago Freitas, Roc Nation Sports in Brazil, the cultural factor also influences. “The percentage of income Brazilians are willing to direct sports bets and gambling exceeds that of any other country in the world,” he says.
In Libertadores, the last six champions were from Brazil, and in four of them the final was played by two Brazilian teams. The two exceptions are precisely River Plate, which was Flamengo’s deputy in 2019, and Boca, who lost the final to Fluminense in 2023.
