Mastercard, Ambev, and Diageo (British alcoholic drinks group that owns Smirnoff, Guinness, and Johnnie Walker) are the brands that gave up on sponsoring Copa America, which starts this Sunday in Brazil. The reason? The country still has very high daily rates of infections (more than 75,000 confirmed cases) and deaths (2,000) from COVID-19, and it simply could not have offered to host an event like this.

TCL, in view of the confirmation of the tournament by the Supreme Court (STF) on Thursday (10) – the court rejected requests against the event –, announced that it will allocate its brand exposure in the field to support the communities of the countries members of the competition with messages of awareness and prevention to COVID-19.

Latin America’s largest economy offered to host the regional football tournament at the end of May, just after Argentina‘s and Colombia‘s refusals to do so.

The decision was supported by the country’s right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, despite criticism from experts, scientists, and the opposition. The biggest fear surrounding the event is that, even without an audience present in the stadiums, it will contribute to the spread of new variants of the coronavirus, making it even more difficult to combat COVID-19 in the midst of a vaccination scheme that is proceeding at a slow pace.

On Saturday, despite the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the effect it has had on the football industry, Conmebol announced higher prizes for this year’s tournament.

“The team that obtains the title will win a prize of $10 million,” said the entity, $2.5 million more than the previous edition of the tournament. For Conmebol, the higher award makes the tournament even more attractive and competitive. Each team participating in the tournament received $4 million for preparation and logistics.