What Valaritas does
Seven services, sold as one license. Athletes and agencies pay nothing for any of them.
Athlete registration and rules
Each athlete registers in one session that captures face, voice and movement. They set the rules every request is checked against: blocked categories, territories, languages, a price floor and their current sponsors. Their digital twin stays under a joint lock, so neither side can use it alone.
Rights clearing
Every brand request runs through six gates before an athlete sees it: always-blocked categories, the athlete's own blocks, sponsor exclusivities, territory, price floor and buyer screening. Requests that fail never reach the athlete. The rest arrive as one sentence and one number.
AI production on licensed models
Once the athlete approves in writing, we produce the finished assets on licensed models, in up to 75 languages. There is no shoot and no travel, and every asset is traced to the license that allowed it.
AI labeling and provenance
Every asset is labeled as AI-generated wherever law or platform rules require it, including EU AI Act Article 50 and New York's synthetic performer law. Brands get disclosure built in instead of a compliance task.
Licensing, collection and payouts
Valaritas is the licensor of record on every brand deal. The brand pays Valaritas, and the athlete's share is paid within 30 days of that payment, with the agency's commission taken from it at its normal rate.
Unlicensed-use protection
We look for unlicensed AI uses of the athletes we work with. Real businesses are offered a license, scams and blocked categories get takedown notices, and fan work and news are left alone.
The Rights Desk
Agencies see their whole roster in one place: each athlete's rules, group requests, conflict checks and payouts by athlete. They route demand, and each athlete still approves in writing. Open the demo.
What makes Valaritas different
Five differences, with the numbers behind them.
Built only for sport
Valaritas checks every request against the athlete's sponsor exclusivities, territories and price floor before the athlete ever sees it. General-purpose likeness tools serve talent across entertainment. We built our rules engine only for sport, around how athletes are actually sponsored.
We sell licensed supply, not just protection
A brand working with Valaritas gets the athlete, the rights and the finished, labeled spots under one license, and we collect and pay out. Several well-funded companies do protection and takedown for talent. None sells licensed supply to brands at roster scale.
The athlete is paid first. We are paid last.
We earn a platform fee only when a brand pays for a license, and production, compute and provenance come out of that fee. Fees follow cash received, not cash promised. If nothing sells, we earn nothing.
Above the models, not inside one
A Valaritas license means the same thing whichever model makes the asset. Licenses sold inside a single AI platform cover that platform only. Ours carry the athlete's consent, price and territory rules to every model we use.
A written yes on every deal, and a short first commitment
Every deal needs the athlete's written approval, and silence never counts as a yes. Agencies start with a 90-day non-exclusive pilot that grants no rights and has no minimums, instead of a multi-year exclusive.
Who uses Valaritas
- Professional athletes with active sponsor portfolios who want more brand deals without more shoot days.
- Athlete management agencies with rosters of roughly 10 to 100 athletes, in any sport with commercial demand.
- Players' unions and leagues that license members as a group and need each athlete's consent on record.
- Brands and creative agencies running localized campaigns across several markets and languages at once.
- Game studios, apps and venues that need cleared athlete likeness for games, fan AI and live or physical AI experiences.
- Estates of retired and late athletes, for legends content cleared with every heir who holds the right.In development
The team behind Valaritas
Valaritas Sports is founder-led and based in London. Its founder has sat on every side of the table the company serves.
Dave Cassidy
Founder and CEO · LondonDave Cassidy has been the athlete, raised the capital and worked inside professional football's rights business. He designed, built and shipped the first version of Valaritas himself in July 2026.
An All-American in track, with a direct presidential appointment to West Point and service in the U.S. Army. At twenty-one he led a humanitarian mission to Haiti that made the front page of USA Today.
Executive producer of Michael Mann's Ferrari, released by NEON and credited as D.C. Cassidy. He has raised and delivered financing for studio films, including three syndicated with a sovereign-backed fund in Abu Dhabi.
An official advisor to a top five European football club since 2024. In 2025 he hosted a top five European club and the United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in Jeddah for the Super Cup final.
Mentored by the late Doug Houser, who sat on Nike's board of directors for 49 years.
Where it started
Film has spent decades pricing and clearing likeness, while sport still sells it one shoot at a time. When AI made it possible to put any athlete in any ad, in any language, without asking, the missing piece was never the model. It was consent, price and payment.
Who is on it
Our engineers build the rights engine and the production pipeline, and our advisors come from football, sports business and technology. Counterparties, contracts and the model are shared in a data room with the partners who need them.
Why the name
Valaritas is the sealed four-plate door in Patrick Rothfuss's The Kingkiller Chronicle. It felt right for a company whose whole job is deciding what gets through.
How we work with athletes
Athletes are the reason the company exists, so the paper is written for them first: a one-page license, a veto on every deal and no cost to them, ever.
How Valaritas works
From first email to first payout, in five steps.
- ApplyUse the form on valaritasports.com or email dave@valaritasports.com. Tell us whether you are an athlete, an agency, a union or league, or a brand.
- Intro callA call with the founder to map your roster, sponsors and the markets that matter to you.
- PaperA one-page athlete license, a short agency pilot letter and one license per brand campaign, all drafted by counsel.
- One registration session per athleteFace, voice and movement captured once, with no travel. The athlete sets their rules the same day.
- Requests, approvals and payoutsRequests arrive already checked against the athlete's rules. Every yes is in writing, and the athlete's share is paid within 30 days of the brand paying.
- Communication
- Email for everything. Athletes approve requests in the Console, and agencies route requests and track payouts in the Rights Desk.
- Response time
- We reply to every application within two business days.
- Who you work with
- During pilots, the founder directly, with engineering on registration and production.
- Approvals
- Every deal needs a written yes from the athlete or their rep. Email counts. Silence never does.
- Payouts
- Within 30 days of the brand paying Valaritas. The agency's commission comes from the athlete's share at its normal rate.
- Takedowns
- Brands remove assets within 48 hours of a valid takedown notice.
- After the pilot
- Approved campaigns run to the end of their licensed term. Athletes with two or more paid deals can move to a 24-month agreement on the pilot's economics.
Key facts
| Company name | Valaritas Sports |
|---|---|
| Type | Private company. AI likeness licensing and rights infrastructure for sport. |
| Founded | 2026 |
| Founder | Dave Cassidy, Founder and CEO |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Website | valaritasports.com |
| Core offering | Consent, pricing, production and payment for licensed AI uses of an athlete's name, image, likeness and voice. |
| Pricing | Free for athletes and agencies. Valaritas earns a platform fee from the license fee a brand pays. If nothing sells, Valaritas earns nothing. |
| Contract terms | 90-day non-exclusive pilot. Written approval on every deal. Optional 24-month extension after two paid deals. Brand licenses are per campaign. |
| Services | Athlete registration and rules, rights clearing, AI production on licensed models, AI labeling and provenance, licensing and payouts, unlicensed-use protection, the Rights Desk. |
| Communication | Email (dave@valaritasports.com), the athlete Console and the Rights Desk. Replies within two business days. |
| Notable clients | Q4 2026 pilots are forming in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. Partners are named when they sign. |
| Customers served | Athletes, athlete agencies, players' unions and leagues, brands and platforms. |
| Projects delivered | First pilots run in Q4 2026. |
| Social | LinkedIn: Dave Cassidy · IMDb: D.C. Cassidy |
| Languages | Up to 75 per campaign |
Last updated October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is Valaritas?
Valaritas is an AI likeness licensing company for sport. It clears, produces and pays for AI campaigns featuring real athletes, with the athlete's written approval on every deal.
How is Valaritas different from likeness protection tools?
Protection tools find fakes and file takedowns. Valaritas is built only for sport: it clears every request against the athlete's sponsors, territories and price floor, produces the licensed campaign and collects from the brand, and athletes and agencies pay nothing.
Does Valaritas train AI models on athletes?
Not for anyone else. Brand licenses prohibit training on the assets or the likeness, and the athlete's digital twin is under a joint lock that neither side can use alone.
How much does Valaritas cost?
Nothing for athletes and agencies. Valaritas earns a platform fee from what a brand pays for a license.
How and when do athletes get paid?
Brands pay Valaritas as licensor of record. The athlete's share is paid within 30 days of that payment, and the agency takes its normal commission from it.
Which sports does Valaritas work with?
Any sport whose athletes have commercial demand. Current conversations span American football, basketball, soccer, Formula One, combat sports and cricket.
Is AI content made through Valaritas labeled?
Yes. Every asset is labeled as AI-generated wherever law or platform rules require it, including EU AI Act Article 50 and New York's synthetic performer law.
Who runs Valaritas?
Valaritas Sports is founder-led and based in London. Its founder, Dave Cassidy, is an executive producer of Michael Mann's Ferrari, an official advisor to a top five European football club since 2024 and a former All-American track athlete.
How do I start?
Apply on valaritasports.com or email dave@valaritasports.com. Pilots start with a 90-day non-exclusive agreement and one registration session per athlete.