Why does Roger Federer's agency need State benefits? Fans question Team8 bailout
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought everything to a standstill, and has rendered millions in the United States - one of the richest countries in the world - jobless. A huge chunk of the global population has been forced to depend on state benefits while they impatiently wait for their lives to get back to normal.
But most would not have expected Roger Federer or his agency to be among the ones needing state bailouts. So when the Federer-backed sports agency 'Team8' received a loan under the United States' 'Paycheck Protection Program', it raised several eyebrows among the US based tennis media and fans.
Sporting legend Roger Federer had founded the agency Team8 in 2013, along with his longtime agent Tony Godsick and two other American investors. Federer, apart from being one of the investors, was also the agency's biggest client.
He was joined by his tennis rivals Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov at the start, and later by other prominent players like Alexander Zverev.
Team 8's objective is to represent a small set of iconic athletes, and to ensure that their career trajectory keeps moving in the right direction. The agency is also interested in growing its business outside tennis by acquiring or creating events and representing non-tennis athletes as well as entertainers.
Roger Federer's 'Team8' among the recipients of the 'PPP'
The 'Paycheck Protection Program' is a loan facility designed by the United States government agency 'Small Business Administration'. The program aims to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll amidst the economic slowdown cause the coronavirus pandemic.
The program also has a mechanism that forgoes the repayment of the loan if the required criteria are met by the eligible businesses.
This has by and large been hailed as good use of taxpayer money and a sort of 'Robinhood scheme' that will keep the small businesses running and their employees on payroll. However, a number of rich sporting entities have been found to be taking advantage of the program by easily fulfilling the eligibility criteria.
US based journalists have compiled a list of sports-based businesses that have benefited from the program.
Not all sports-based businesses are rich or have the resources to fulfill their requirements and keep the employees on regular payroll. There are some sporting businesses that have genuinely suffered huge losses and are struggling to stay afloat due to loss of revenue during the pandemic.
However, it is safe to assume that some of the beneficiaries of the program, including top-tier MLS clubs like Orlando City and Seattle Sounders and other agencies representing top athletes in American sports, are not among them.
The Roger Federer-backed sports agency Team8 is also one of the recipients of the PPP, having received a sum north of $350,000 from the government. And now many fans, some of whom are US taxpayers, have expressed their disapproval of this.
Roger Federer's agency criticized for being a PPP recipient
Fans believe that a business backed by the tennis legend Roger Federer, who in May was ranked by Forbes as the highest paid athlete in the world, does not need any more 'backing' - and least of all from the United States government.
US-based tennis journalists have also been quick to point out that Roger Federer's agency does not feel like an 'obvious candidate for a state bailout'.
Some fans have explained that the money from the taxpayers' kitty should only go to the people and businesses in genuine and urgent need of government support. An agency backed by the world's richest athlete, by contrast, is in no need of a forgivable loan.
One fan taunted Roger Federer for his agency 'being on state benefits'.
Roger Federer's 'Team8' were quick to return the money
However, the fans' concerns might somewhat be settled by the knowledge that Roger Federer's agency have already returned the money they had received through the PPP program.
Team8 were quick to respond to the backlash received from fans, and they released a statement that confirmed they had already returned the entire amount they had received.
The statement said that the loan was already repaid to the government on 29 April - within one week of its receipt. It also mentioned that the repayment was done so quickly because the agency realized how the money could be put to better use elsewhere.