Perhaps TokenStars will be useful for young athletes who is in need of funding. But it’s unnecessary for celebrities who has succeed already. They don’t have to change the current state of affairs.
On the contrary, Many Athletes Are Disappointed by the Current State of Affairs.
IMG is practically a monopoly in tennis. They can dictate terms (from the tournaments a player participates in to the organization of his or her training schedule). They turn down players from smaller countries (as the domestic market is small and there are few opportunities for advertising). And, they make mistakes in their selection process.
Roger Federer left IMG and started his own agency, Team818. He has signed several top-10 players, including Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov and Argentine star Juan Martin Del Potro.
Andy Murray left Lagardere and set up a management agency “77” (name of which is inspired by the 77-year wait for a British men’s singles champion at Wimbledon, that Andy brought to an end in 2013).
As a reason for creating his own agency Murray stated that “it will allow him more freedom in decision-making and the chance to become more involved in his business affairs”.
One of the most remarkable conflicts between an agency and a player was Ivan Lendl’s case, the winner of seven Grand Slam tournaments and undisputable No.1 in the ATP ranking. Ivan was dissatisfied with the work of agency, cause at the top of his career he experienced lack of attention from his agents. Later Lendl accused Proserv of exploiting his image for ‘packaging’ with other players at less favorable terms.
Later Lendl left Proserv and started his own agency20.
ACE will collaborate with established pro players: ~20% of both top 300 in rankings (ATP and WTA) are overlooked by traditional agencies, so we can offer them our Network’s advertising capacities and expertise. Even elite players are open to changing agents and ACE will consider this possibility after initial launch.
