IMG, originally known as the International Management Group, is a
global sports, other events and talent management company headquartered in New
York City. Trans World International is the event company of IMG.
History IMG was founded by Mark McCormack, an
American lawyer who spotted the potential for athletes to make large
incomes from endorsement in the television age; he signed professional
golfers Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus as his first clients.
McCormack died in 2003. In 2004 Forstmann Little led by Theodore J.
Forstmann acquired the company; Forstmann served as chairman and CEO
until his death in late 2011. In 2006, IMG Media acquired nunet AG, a
provider of mobile TV services to mobile network operators around the world.
Clients of nunet's mobile TV CMS currently include: Vodafone, Proximus,
Vodacom, Mobilkom A1. Content distributed currently includes MTV,
Fashion TV, Eurosport, and Discovery Networks.
In November 2007, IMG acquired Kentucky-based Host Communications,
which had multiple business units with services ranging from sports marketing
and broadcasting to the management of associations and non-profit
organizations. The sports-related businesses were combined with the
Collegiate Licensing Company to form IMG College, while the association
management division was renamed IMG Associations.
IMG was founded and headquartered in Downtown Cleveland in a complex built in
1965 diagonally across the street from Erieview Tower. When the IMG Center was
built, it originally housed the Cuyahoga Saving Bank, which was acquired by
Charter One Bank in 1998. In 1997, IMG renovated the Cuyahoga Savings Bank
Building and renamed it IMG Center. At street level they have a projection
screen showing their businesses, events and clients, with images ranging from
Formula One racing to professional golfers. Following the acquisition of
IMG by Forstmann Little, the headquarters remained in Cleveland, Ohio
for several years until officially relocating to its new parent company's
existing offices in New York, in 2010, though the IMG Center is still located
on East Ninth Street in Cleveland. On October 15, 2010, IMG acquired ISP,
the multimedia rights holder for more than 50 universities based in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As a result of the acquisition, IMG College
retained ISP's former headquarters in Winston-Salem.
On December 3, 2012, The Premier League announced that IMG Media had agreed a
new three-year deal with the Premier League for aeroplanes and ships rights.
On December 18, 2013, IMG was acquired by William Morris Endeavor and Silver
Lake Partners in a $2.2 billion deal. WME’s Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell
will serve as co-CEOs. IMG and its more than 3,000 employees worldwide will
continue as an independent entity. On June 25, 2015, IMG entered into a
multi-year exclusive partnership with London-based golfscape to power luxury
destination courses with online golf bookings infrastructure and digital
concierge service. Media
IMG distributes over 32,000 hours of content—originating from more than 200
clients and events—to major global broadcasters annually, across all forms
of media including TV, audio, fixed media, inflight and closed circuit,
broadband and mobile. The company’s multimedia product offering includes
inCycle and Golfing World, while IMG also produces and distributes Sport 24,
the first ever live global premium 24-hour sports channel for the airline
and cruise industries, and EDGEsport, the 24-hour premium action sports
channel. It maintains the world’s largest sports archive with more than
250,000 hours of footage and operates joint ventures with the PGA European
Tour, Associated Press and Asian Tour. IMG Academy
IMG Academy is a private educational institution located in Bradenton,
Florida, and specializing in sports training. The boarding school offers an
Academy program for Pre-K/Elementary, Middle & High School, and Postgraduates,
as well as a year-round camp program. The 500-acre campus also serves as the
training and competition venue for amateur and professional teams, the host
site for a variety of events, and a hub for sports performance research and
innovation. Sport programs include: baseball; golf; soccer; tennis;
basketball; football; lacrosse; and track & field and cross-country.
Models IMG Models is a model management firm.
Consulting Consulting works with many corporations
on marketing and sponsorship programs, and IMG's stadium and arena group works
with leagues and franchises throughout the world.
Speakers Speakers book talent for Fortune 500
companies, associations, healthcare organizations, lecture series and
colleges and universities throughout the world.
Joint ventures IMG operates joint ventures with four
major partners in four key emerging markets—Brazil, China, India, and
Turkey. IMX, CC-TV IMG, IMG Reliance and IMG Dogus all work to develop sports,
fashion and entertainment properties in their respective territories.
IMG has also partnered with John and Chris Evert to found the Evert Tennis
Academy located in Boca Raton, Florida. IMG events
= Figure skating= Stars on Ice
= Association football= Indian Super League
= Bull riding= Professional Bull Riders
= Golf= Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship
Alfred Dunhill Links Championship ANA Inspiration
Arnold Palmer Invitational The Honda Classic
HSBC Women's Champions Reingwood LPGA Classic
Ricoh Women's British Open Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia
Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic Thailand Golf Championship
WGC-HSBC Champions = Motorsports=
FIA World Rallycross Championship Speedway Grand Prix
Speedway World Cup = Running=
Run to the Beat Melbourne Marathon
= Surfing= Australian Open of Surfing
U.S. Open of Surfing = Tennis=
Bank of the West Classic BNP Paribas Tennis Classic
Chennai Open Miami Masters
Apia International Sydney = Triathlon=
Escape from Alcatraz London Triathlon
San Diego Triathlon IMG College
In late 2007, IMG acquired Host Communications and the Collegiate
Licensing Company to form IMG College. In 2010 IMG acquired ISP Sports, which
was based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Today, IMG represents the
multimedia rights for more than 90 universities, conferences, collegiate
associations and venues along with the licensing rights to more than 150
colleges and universities as well as the College Football Playoff. Additionally,
IMG Seating serves more than 100 universities, and IMG Learfield Ticket
Solutions provides outsourced ticketing services to 30 universities nationwide.
IMG Fashion Australian Fashion Week
Berlin Fashion Week Lakme Fashion Week
New York Fashion Week Miami Swim Week
World MasterCard Fashion Week Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia
IMG Esports SK Gaming
Cloud9 Team Dignitas
IMG Tennis Novak Djokovic
Gael Monfils Li Na
Kei Nishikori Maria Sharapova
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Venus Williams
Serena Williams Petra Kvitová
Garbiñe Muguruza Eugenie Bouchard
Nick Kyrgios Madison Keys
Laura Robson Sara Errani
Carlos Moya David Ferrer
Monica Seles John McEnroe
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Sabine Lisicki
Victoria Azarenka See also
IMG Academy IMG Models
Longhorn Network - a TV network that specifically covers athletics and events
at the University of Texas at Austin Sports agent - a listing of well-known
sports agents, categorized by sport References
External links Official website