How Netflix Got Involved in the Feud Between Bap and Leila over Libra

Fans of movies and series were surprised when Palmeiras president, Leila Pereira, simply brought Netflix into her increasingly heated feud over Libra broadcasting rights with Luiz Eduardo Baptista, known as Bap, president of Flamengo. But how did the world’s leading streaming platform end up in this standoff?
The jab referenced an old statement made by the Flamengo director. In an official statement issued yesterday, Leila responded to provocations from Bap the day before, insinuating that she might be buying rival Vasco due to a loan of R$80 million granted to them by Crefisa, the financial institution she leads.
In response to President Bap’s insinuation about me buying Vasco, he can rest assured. I am not buying Vasco. In fact, I am not buying Vasco or Netflix, Leila Pereira stated. The mention of Netflix was not random and referred back to a statement from Bap in August 2014, when the streaming platform was expanding rapidly in Brazil and he was the president of Sky, a pay-TV company.
At the time, Luiz Eduardo Baptista participated in the 5th Business Marketing Forum and stated that his company could buy Netflix: We are not competitors. But soon, if they start bothering us, we could buy those guys in Brazil, Bap stated in 2014 during his time at Sky. Eleven years after Bap’s statement, Netflix’s absolute disparity compared to Brazilian TV operators is evident. In February 2025, the platform reached 25 million subscribers in the country, surpassing the combined peak reached by Brazilian operators in the early 2010s, with about 20 million subscribers, in a pre-streaming and piracy era.
The Sky platform has around 2.67 million subscribers. It is the second largest in the country, behind Claro, with about 4.72 million subscribers. These numbers are from Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency). Currently, Brazil is the second country with the highest number of Netflix subscribers, second only to the United States with about 60 million. The company generates revenues of R$10.4 billion annually, according to ‘Exame’ magazine.
Netflix released a series conceived by UOL about the tragedy at the Nest. In March of last year, Netflix premiered the documentary series ‘The Nest: Soccer & Tragedy,’ created by UOL in partnership with the streaming platform and production company ‘A Fábrica.’ Split into three episodes, it portrays the stories of survivors and the families of the victims of the fire at Flamengo’s Ninho do Urubu training center in February 2019, which resulted in the deaths of ten teenagers.
Bap also resorted to subliminal messaging to mock. During the Flamengo Deliberative Council meeting last Tuesday, Luiz Eduardo Baptista used subliminal messages to take a swipe at Leila Pereira, who had suggested the possibility of Flamengo ‘playing alone’ in an interview with Record. In an ironic tone, Bap denied the idea and quoted a passage from Flamengo’s own anthem to say that rivals would ‘have a deep sorrow’ if the Gavea club left the league. ‘Of course, Flamengo will not play alone. These are narrative wars that are absolutely foolish. Because if Flamengo were to play alone, I think the money left for the others would be very little. Flamengo playing alone would be a deep sorrow for the other 19 fanbases,’ Bap stated after the Flamengo Deliberative Council meeting.