Bob Larson's Tennis News | Agassi and Rogers Split Over Idaho Investment

By Charles Bricker

The stunning split of Andre Agassi and his longtime friend and business agent Perry Rogers, which was first revealed here a week ago, is tied directly to the collapse of a multi-million dollar hotel and resort investment deal at Tamarack Village, Idaho, that collapsed earlier this year.

Although public statements issued by both Agassi and Rogers on Thursday didn't mention the Idaho fiasco, a source intimately familiar with the deal revealed that the investment Agassi and wife Steffi Graf made in the failed project was a major reason why Agassi and Rogers are no longer professionally associated.

It was not known how much money Agassi and Graf invested in the project or how much money they lost, if any, when they pulled out of the project three months ago.

In July, Agassi and Graf terminated their involvement in the $600 million dollar recreation/hotel project after construction was halted in the face a federal court suit brought by investment bank Credit Suisse, which claimed Tamarack property owners Jean-Pierre Boespflug and Alfredo Miguel Afif had failed to cover debts on a defaulted $260 million loan.

Boespflug and Afif had sought bankruptcy protection, but earlier this week a judge ruled that they were not entitled to relief offered by Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws.

Tamarack opened in December of 2004, advertising itself as America's "first all-season resort in decades," and began selling property. There were promises of a billion-dollar ski lift, a Robert Trent Jones and a marina. Agassi and Graf envisioned a 300-room high-end hotel when he and Graf announced in 2006 they were getting involved financially.

Agassi and Rogers have been the closest of friends since elementary school. "He's been my best friend and it's like we raised each other," Agassi once told a Las Vegas reporter. "We thought about things that we'll always value and fight for. The standard of my life is only a reflection of things we dreamed about as children."

Rogers, who also is agent to several very high profile athletes in other sports, was president of Agassi Enterprises and his marquee position in tennis won him election a year and a half ago to the ATP board of directors.

A year later, at the 2008 Wimbledon, Rogers was removed from the board by the ATP Players Council, which found him uncommunicative with even the top players in men's tennis. It was about the time of the problems being encountered by the Tamarack project.

Rogers said of the split with Agassi: "We've been talking about it for a long time. We made the decision in August, but we didn't want to announce it until after the fundraiser because we didn't want to cause any distractions." The fundraiser was Agassi's Grand Slam for Children, a benefit held Saturday in Las Vegas.

"It was getting to where every call I was getting was about business, and Andre and I agreed that it has to be more than this," Rogers said. "Andre and I both feel the same that at the end of the day it's about our friendship first. It's not about the number of zeroes in the bank account but the quality of the friendship."

Agassi said in a statement: "It's rare to find someone who shares your hopes and dreams. Working together, Perry and I made our dreams reality. There are few people who can say that, and we both feel incredibly fortunate. Our 27-year-long friendship has endured the stresses and strains of intense business."