As AI continues to transform the entertainment and sports sectors, a newly launched sports-tech company argues that athletes have become key contributors to the AI economy—yet no standardized system currently exists to compensate them for this role. Callandor Group has introduced what it calls the first dedicated registry for sports intellectual property in the AI era: a platform designed to empower athletes and sports organizations to manage, protect, and monetize their digital identities, which the company asserts are increasingly being integrated into AI systems without consent or remuneration. “Right now, the intellectual property of stars like [Lionel] Messi or LeBron [James] operates in a legal Wild West, ” said Michael Fisk, CEO of Callandor. “Their movements, voices, and biometric information are fed into AI models with zero transparency and no consistent royalty framework. Athletes are no longer merely players—they have become the training data powering the next generation of digital entertainment. ” Fisk, an experienced entertainment executive with a background at Sony, MGM, and Amazon Studios, guides the company alongside co-CEO David Cassidy and CTO An Vu. Vu, a former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer who contributed to the Perseverance Mars rover, is creating what the firm calls the “Event Horizon API, ” aimed at securing AI requests and protecting athlete data. Cassidy, who has executive producing credits on Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” and connections to Europe’s Big 5 soccer leagues, is tasked with enrolling top clubs and players onto the platform. Callandor’s core offering enables athletes to license their digital identities and earn royalties whenever AI systems utilize their likeness or performance data. For clubs and content producers, it provides a compliant method to monetize video archives as AI training materials, adhering to regulations like the European Union’s AI Act and California’s transparency laws. “As sports evolve into software-driven entertainment, Callandor supplies the infrastructure ensuring that stars truly own the futures they’re shaping, ” Fisk explained. “Across the industry, it offers a clear, compliant pathway to transition from broadcast rights to training rights. ” The company has appointed Phil McKenzie as a strategic adviser.

McKenzie co-founded Goldfinch, a finance firm that has invested more than £300 million ($397 million) across over 300 projects, and myco. io, a platform with 40 million users and partnerships involving the English Premier League and International Cricket Council. “Sports IP licensing is where entertainment credit financing stood 15 years ago—an immense asset base lacking standardized infrastructure to unlock value, ” McKenzie remarked. “Callandor is constructing that essential infrastructure layer. ” European soccer is Callandor’s primary focus, citing the vast global audiences of the Big 5 leagues and the favorable regulatory environment created by the EU AI Act as key advantages for its compliant approach. The team also includes Guglielmo Cardente, who the company says provides connections to top European soccer clubs through Roberto Mancini’s legacy and Formula One. Additionally, Callandor reports working relationships with FC Barcelona’s digital divisions—Barça Media, Barça One, and Barça Digital Assets—and involvement in facilitating the FIFA Club World Cup’s theatrical release. “By monitoring and licensing AI queries involving sports IP, we establish a scalable and enduring revenue model, ” Fisk said. “Athletes are the new code. If athletes are the software, we’re building the app store. ”