Chess.com isn't _allowing_ anyone to do anything, right? There are sponsors and streamers, and chess.com there in the middle but there's no specific reason it has to be them, or that streamers for example couldn't be sponsored directly. I think for chess.com they want to insert themselves as a kind of broker because it's good for business to put themselves in the middle like that.
Would clubs etc. be interested in sponsoring players, if players would just play elsewhere? I assume in that case clubs will not get any brand recognition boost from being advertised?
Instead of individual streamers being sponsored by venues, which then forbid them to play in other venues, they could be sponsored directly by the advertisers who sponsor the venues, and agencies could represent/group them. Just like how it works with e-sports. Riot Games for example doesn't pay all the pro players to exist, there's a whole ecosystem.
