Commonwealth launches investment opportunity for tennis fans

Tennis fans can now be a part of the professional tours—off court, that is, by investing in the future stars of the sport.

Commonwealth is a sports investing platform that allows for anyone in their 17,000—and growing—sports fan community to buy shares of its players and fund their professional journey.

“Every sport has stories of younger athletes raising capital or needing the financial support to push them over the edge,” CEO and co-founder Brian Doxtator said. “In a lot of cases, it's done in a very fragmented or almost broken way that leads to either predatory deals or fragmented communication. Commonwealth sits in a place that can solve a lot of those problems both from predatory terms and the deals that athletes get, and visibility into what's going on with the money.”

“We launched in horse racing because it was the perfect launch sport,” he said. “At the time we launched this company, no one was investing in people, there were no NFTs, none of this stuff was happening, so this whole world of fractional investing was in its infancy five years ago. But we had really always thought that this was meant for athletes long term.”

With tennis officially launched at Commonwealth, player funding and fan involvement is reaching new opportunities.

It’s no secret that undiscovered players climbing the professional rankings struggle to find the financial support for their careers.

One of the reasons former player and Chief Tennis Officer at UTR Sports Stephen Amritraj came on as a strategic advisor at Commonwealth is because he saw it firsthand with wife Alison Riske-Amritraj.

At 18 years old, Riske-Amritraj was ranked 200 in the world and was committed to Vanderbilt University because she couldn’t afford the “75,000 a year minimum up to, if you really want to do it right, $125,000,” he said. Just two weeks out from college, a family friend came forward offering to fund her for a percentage of future earnings.

“Ali took that opportunity, accepted the offer, turned pro and had a successful twelve-plus year career,” Amritraj said. “If it wasn't for that opportunity, there would be no Alison Riske tennis player, she would’ve probably gone to Vanderbilt and got into medicine like she potentially thought that she might have… There’s this massive problem of funding, and I really believe that this is one of the biggest problems within the sport at all ages.”

Launching this week is Commonwealth’s first tennis signee, Garrett Johns, an All-American player from Duke University who began his professional career this year at world No. 414.

“Not only am I getting support, but it’s from such a cool community,” Johns said. “It’s almost like a fan base that’s looking out for you but also giving you that support.”

Starting at $50 a share, Commonwealth members get more than just a potential ROI, but weekly updates from the player and in-person events to attend throughout the year.

“We’ve asked our users how much does ROI matter to you and it’s usually the third or fourth thing that they mention,” Doxtator said. “Mainly because they want to be entertained, they want to back something they care about, they want to be a part of something that enriches their lives and adds to their social calendar. I call it a choose your own adventure, but the idea is you put in an amount that is meant to be fun.

“If you can get fun money invested from a thousand different people, the collective ROI expectation across those thousand people is not really high. They’re going, if I could get any of my money back that would be great, otherwise I’m just here to have fun. That allows us to bring really athlete-centric terms to the table because we aren’t coming to the table saying we’re raising all of this money from investors for you with an expectation to get the money back.”

Being a part of the community means following the athlete’s journey through exclusive content, updates, and opportunities, and get to know the athletes on an intricate level.

“At the US Open, a bunch of Joey’s family was there, so investors are interacting with his family and getting to know him better,” Doxtator said on their golf signee Joey Vrzich. “It’s this feeling of supporting somebody and their dreams, feeling like you’re backing something that matters.”

As Commonwealth continues growing in tennis, looking to add a handful more players to the roster by the end of the year, Armitraj notes how this sport in particular will be exciting to members.

“The amazing thing about tennis is that it’s ever-present,” Amritraj said. “Players play thirty plus weeks in the year. Horseracing happens once every month or two, as a golfer you’re probably playing a little bit less but still frequently, but as a tennis player you are constantly playing. You’re constantly on someone’s team, and that’s really powerful from a connectivity point, and tennis has an amazing structural advantage when it comes to constant engagement.”

The Commonwealth community prides itself on transparency, community, and fun. With the Johns’ journey just beginning and the tennis footprint expanding, tennis fans have an opportunity to be a part of the sport in ways that simply didn’t exist before.