Would it be possible? More and more people are feeling "ripped-off" by what commissions they accepted back when they were amateurs

Do you think it would be possible to create agencies whose revenue solely cover the expenses?
Over the past few months we've heard the words "alliance", "coop"..

At this point, do we need the middle-man to be stuffing his pocket that much?

What are your thoughts on that?

Of course it is possible. Simply run the agency as normal and then redistribute the end of year profits to the contributors (presumably calculated according to what their pictures contributed to earnings during the year). Whether establishing a new agency is financially viable is an entirely different question.