On 10 February 2000, under the presidency of João Vale e Azevedo, Benfica created Sport Lisboa e Benfica – Futebol, SAD (a public limited sports company) with an initial equity of €75 million. There were five major reasons for creating an autonomous entity to manage the Benfica team: participation in professional football competitions at domestic and international level; development of football players; exploitation of TV rights on open and closed channels; management of the players' image rights; exploitation of the Benfica brand by the professional football team and at sporting events.