The purchase of Pelé’s brand by NR Sports, a company managed by Neymar da Silva Santos, father of striker Neymar, faced strong competition. The agreement was made official last Tuesday night (25), at the museum named after the King of Football, in Santos.
An international NGO, Santos Futebol Clube and one of former striker Ronaldo Fenômeno’s companies were also in the running for the deal. The total value of the acquisition is around US$18 million (R$96.7 million).
The attempt by the former number 9 of the Brazilian team was considered the least offensive on the market. The search occurred “late”, when the drafts of the contract between NR Sports and the North American company Sports 10, which held the rights to Pelé’s brand, were already in the final stages. Still, there were conversations.
The São Paulo club was ahead, but was surprised by the speed with which Neymar Sr. entered and closed the deal, just over a month ago. Even members of Pelé’s family were unaware of the progress in the negotiations.
According to information from journalist Vagner Frederico, specialized in covering Santos, without the money required by the Americans, the São Paulo club tried to form a commercial partnership to exploit the brand and only then contribute the amount requested for the purchase, which would already be fixed in advance.
Neymar Sr.’s interference in the negotiations created noise in the relationship with Santos. Present at the event announcing the agreement, the black and white president, Marcelo Teixeira, said few words.
Neymar da Silva Santos stated that “you can’t talk about Santos without Pelé and, naturally, talk about Pelé without Santos”. “We’re going to do a lot of work now, with the expertise we have,” he stated.
The international NGO had been negotiating with Sport 10 for a longer time, but did not reach the required amount. The idea was to form a partnership with Santos to promote social actions using the club’s name and Pelé’s.
The agreement to acquire the brand gives NR Sports the rights to use Pelé’s image and commercially explore the licensing of products, historical collections and other properties related to the former player, who died on December 29, 2022.
With Pelé still alive, it was up to Sports 10 to define commercial strategies and the idol’s appearances at events.
The player’s father promised to unite the name of the King of Football with his son’s and start a new era of exploring the image of the old number 10, now linked to entertainment.
“We want to make her [a marca] participate not only in sport but in all possible entertainment”, he said.
“Neymar’s return brought us a positive experience in relation to Santos, Brazil and the world. We traveled all over the world and know that today we have our prince. And that [a compra da marca] will be important for Brazil, to make these two representations [Neymar e Pelé] can come together to add one to the other. Of course, Pelé is the greatest of all time, but we will immortalize both of them not only as a memory but as a brand”, he added.
