While everyone is focused on free agency moves, three of the biggest NBA stars just made a boss move. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant & LeBron James have signed with a new sports business.
Check out the details…
Via Fortune.com:
The business is Teneo Sports, which has existed since Teneo Inc., a global consulting firm, launched in 2011. The key executive is Charlie Denson, who worked at Nike for 34 years and was brand president from 2001 until last January, when he retired.
That retirement didn’t last long: Fortune has learned that Denson has joined Teneo Sports as its chairman; Jordan, Bryant, James and pro golfer Graeme McDowell are its first four athlete clients.
That’s a star-studded opening lineup that contains the world’s most famous living retired athlete, the NBA’s two biggest stars, and one rising-star golfer with a U.S. Open win under his belt. Two of those men landed in the top ten of our 2014 Fortunate 50 list of athlete earnings, and they compete with each other on the court, which made getting each of them on board particularly challenging. But Denson was the draw for the basketball players. McDowell, meanwhile, already had a sponsorship with Teneo, which meant placement of its name on his sleeve.
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This is not a sports agency, though many will likely equate it with one. The athletes joining Teneo are retaining their agents, and those agents are not joining Teneo. Rather, Teneo seeks to let agents continue to manage their clients in the way they traditionally do, while Teneo will provide a wide range of business services for its athlete clients, including wealth management, tax planning, personal branding, business development and strategic partnerships.
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