Basketball stars link with Irish-founded Teneo

Teneo Holdings, the New York- based consulting group co-founded by Irishmen Declan Kelly and Paul Keary, has earned a reputation for applying a full court press on behalf of its corporate clients since it was set up in 2011.

So it seems appropriate that it would add US basketball legends Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant to its client roster.

It is all part of a recent expansion by the firm beyond the boardroom through the launch of Teneo Sports.

The new division is being led by former Nike brand president Charlie Denson, who presumably has a bulging contacts book.

Teneo Sports has also teed up Northern Ireland golfer Graeme McDowell. The former US Open champion already has a relationship with Teneo, sporting its brand on his kit.

Each of the stars will retain their own agents. Teneo will assist with wealth management, tax planning, personal branding, business development and strategic partnerships. It will act as a one-stop-shop for these services.

Teneo has partnered with a few entities for this, including Wieden+Kennedy for creative ad work, UBS for finance and DLA Piper for legal services.

Kelly is no stranger to rubbing shoulders with the great and good. Former US president Bill Clinton and former British prime minister Tony Blair were advisers to Teneo in the early days and he was a former US economic envoy to Northern Ireland during Hillary Clinton's time at the at the department of State.

His brother is the Labour Party's new deputy leader, Alan Kelly, who has been linked with the jobs and enterprise brief in Cabinet.

Quite a coup

Even so, netting Jordan, James and Bryant as clients is quite a coup, given that they are the biggest names in basketball globally.

According to a recent article in Forbes, Teneo believes the sports division will be a "game-changer and so it will only be seeking athletes matching the calibre of its first four: a level that probably only includes some 100 stars across all the major global sports".

A tall order rather than a slam dunk, but Kelly probably wouldn’t want it any other way.