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IMG (company)

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IMG, originally known as the International Management Group, is a global sports, fashion, events and media company headquartered in New York City.[1] The company manages athletes and fashion celebrities; owns, operates and commercially represents live events; and is an independent producer and distributor of sports and entertainment media.[2]

International Management Group
Company typeSubsidiary
Founded1960
FounderMark McCormack
Headquarters
New York City, New York
,
United States
Area served
25+ countries
Key people
Ari Emanuel
(co-CEO)
Patrick Whitesell
(co-CEO)
Number of employees
3,000+
ParentEndeavor
(sale to TKO Group Holdings pending)
DivisionsArt + Commerce
College
Events
Fashion
Media - Including Rights, Production & IMG ARENA
Models
Licensing
Websitewww.img.com

History

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IMG was founded in 1960 in Cleveland, Ohio, 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 who collectively are known as The Big Three.[3] McCormack died in 2003.[4]

In 2004, Forstmann Little, led by Theodore J. Forstmann, acquired the company; Forstmann served as chairman and CEO until his death in late 2011.

On June 1, 2006, IMG Media acquired Tiger Aspect Productions, the producer of the British television series Mr. Bean and the company, along with Darlow Smithson Productions (also acquired in 2006) later sold to Endemol in November 2009.[5][6][7]

In 2006, IMG Media acquired nunet AG,[8] 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 (CLC) to form IMG College, while the association management division was renamed IMG Associations.

IMG was originally headquartered in downtown Cleveland in a complex built in 1965 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. Following the acquisition of IMG by Forstmann Little, the headquarters remained in Cleveland, Ohio, for several years until officially relocating to its 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.[9]

On December 18, 2013, IMG was acquired by William Morris Endeavor and Silver Lake Partners in a $2.4 billion deal to form WME-IMG.[10] WME's Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell served as co-CEOs.

WME-IMG reorganized in October 2017 with the parent company being renamed from WME-IMG to Endeavor, and IMG and WME becoming subsidiaries of Endeavor. Ari Emanuel became Endeavor CEO and Patrick Whitesell became Endeavor executive chairman.[11]

In October 2024, IMG agreed to be purchased by another one of Endeavor's subsidiaries, TKO Group Holdings, as part of a $3.25 billion deal, with the transaction expected to close in the first half of 2025.[12]

Media

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IMG's Media Division produces, develops and executes multi-channel distribution strategies for federations, associations and events working with major global broadcasters, channels and platforms. Each year it delivers 45,000 hours of content originating from over 200 clients.

The company's multimedia product offering includes production of Channel 4's England men's UEFA Nations League and European Qualifiers and Super League rugby coverage, CBS' UEFA Champions League coverage, the DP World Tour and Ryder Cup coverage, and the Premier League's international broadcast feed.

IMG also produces and distributes Sport 24,[13] the live, linear sports channel for the airline and cruise industries, and EDGEsport, the linear action sports channel.

In 2012, IMG created IMG ARENA, a sports data and technology company for the betting, media and professional sectors.[citation needed]

Endeavor acquired Mailman Group in 2021, and its UK-based Seven League digital marketing agency was integrated into IMG's Media division.[14]

Trans World Sport was one of the first productions created by TWI/IMG when it began weekly production in May 1987. The 49-minute sports magazine programme airs in numerous countries around the world and is owned and distributed by IMG

Archive

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IMG's Archive Services (previously IMG Replay) houses the largest sports archive platform with over 500,000 hours of content dating back over 120 years including event footage, highlights, interviews, ISOs and programming, available in 4K, 3D and HR=D.[15]

IMG currently works with over 37 rightsholders helping to digitise, monetise and market their archive content including:

IMG also supports brands, agencies and production studios in securing rights and clearance for archive content.[16]

Models

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IMG Models is an international modelling agency headquartered in New York City and with additional offices in London, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, and Sydney. It is a subsidiary of the talent management company International Management Group. The company merged with William Morris Endeavor in 2013. In 2015, the agency represented more than half of the highest-paid supermodels. Ivan Bart is the current President, and Lisa Marie Benson is the Vice President. [17]

Consulting

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IMG's Consulting division works with rightsholders, and brands on commercial, marketing and sponsorship strategy. IMG's stadium and arena group works with leagues and franchises.

In Brazil, IMG worked with local affiliate IMM (former IMX), serving clients involved with the FIFA 2014 World Cup and the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

Joint Ventures

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IMG operates joint ventures with key partners across many areas of the business.

In Brazil, China, India, and Turkey IMM (Brazil, former IMX), CC-TV IMG (China), IMG Reliance (India) and IMG Dogus (Turkey) develop sports, fashion and entertainment properties in their respective territories.

In 2015, IMG and Euroleague Basketball agreed on a ten-year joint venture. Together they will manage the commercial operation, and management of all global rights covering both media and marketing of the EuroLeague (the premier competition for European professional men's basketball clubs) and its 2nd-tier competition, the EuroCup.[18]

In 2018, IMG and influencers Joe Sugg and Caspar Lee founded the joint venture Margravine Management, now known as MVE.[19][20]

Events

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IMG owns, produces and commercially represents hundreds of events worldwide.

Art

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Association Football

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Basketball

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Entertainment

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Figure Skating

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Golf

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Motorsports

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Rugby League

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Running

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Strongman

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Surfing

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Tennis

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Triathlon

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Volleyball

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IMG College

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Main article: 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.[27] 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 universities.[citation needed]

Fashion

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Licensing

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IMG's Licensing Division works in trademark licensing and currently provides its services to more than 100 Licensors of intellectual property.[citation needed]

eSports

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IMG eSports represents commercial rights on behalf of game publishers and tournament operators.

  • PGL
  • DPC WEU Tour
  • DPC NA Tour
  • EVO
  • EVO Japan
  • EVO Las Vegas
  • Combo Breaker
  • CEO
  • East Coast Throwdown
  • First Attack
  • Versus Fighting
  • UFA
  • Global Esports Federation
  • Global Esport Tours
  • Global Esports Games

In April 2022, the Global Esports Federation (GEF) announced IMG as their strategic partners and as a result the Commonwealth Esports Championship was formed.[28]

IMG Tennis

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IMG represents tennis athletes worldwide.

Channels

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Sport 24

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Sport 24 is a 24/7 live sports television channel owned by IMG, which is available on international airlines including AeroMéxico, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines and Turkish Airlines, as well in international waters on cruise lines including Carnival, Celebrity Cruises, Princess Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and P&O.[30]

The channel broadcasts live sport from 40 international federations and competitions. These include Premier League, National Football League, National Basketball Association, UEFA Champions League, ATP World Tour, PGA Tour, European Tour, Euroleague, UEFA Euro, Olympics and Ryder Cup.[31]

Sport 24 launched in February 2012. A secondary part-time channel, Sport 24 Extra, launched in 2016, offering an extra 150 live hours a month and choice during concurrent events.[31] Both channels originate from IMG's production headquarters at Stockley Park, near London's Heathrow Airport. Sport 24 is available on Panasonic's live television service, which is broadcast via satellite to airlines.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ img.com Archived February 28, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "IMG | A global sports & culture company". IMG. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  3. ^ "Mark McCormack and IMG". Creaghan McConnell Group. Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  4. ^ Litsky, Frank (May 17, 2003). "Mark H. McCormack, 72, Pioneer of Sports Marketing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  5. ^ "Tiger Aspect Bought by IMG Media". The Guardian. June 1, 2006. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  6. ^ "Endemol acquires Tiger Aspect, Darlow Smithson from IMG". Television Business International. November 24, 2009. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  7. ^ "Endemol buys Darlow Smithson, Tiger Aspect". Realscreen. November 23, 2009. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  8. ^ "可愛い赤ちゃんが生まれたら出産祝い！出産祝い・内祝いって何？". www.nu-net.com. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  9. ^ bizjournals.com
  10. ^ Cohan, William (February 13, 2015). "The Inside Story of Ari Emanuel's Big, Risky WME-IMG Merger". Vanityfair.com. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  11. ^ Sun, Rebecca (October 9, 2017). "WME-IMG Renames Parent Company as Endeavor". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  12. ^ "TKO to Acquire IMG, On Location, Professional Bull Riders From Endeavor in $3.25B Stock Deal". The Hollywood Reporter. October 24, 2024. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
  13. ^ "Sport 24". Sport 24.
  14. ^ Carp, Sam. "IMG sports betting data IMG arena data launch". SportsProMedia. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  15. ^ "Premier League and IMG Replay renew long-running video archive deal". Sport Cal. August 2, 2022. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  16. ^ "IMG Replay". IMG Replay.
  17. ^ Herd, Thomas. "Within a World of Creativity, Innovation, and Potential: Lisa Marie Benson, Vice President of IMG Models". LAWEEKLY. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  18. ^ "Euroleague Basketball A-licence clubs and IMG agree on 10-year joint venture". Euroleague Basketball. November 10, 2015. Archived from the original on March 21, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  19. ^ Spangler, Todd (June 8, 2018). "YouTube Stars Joe Sugg, Caspar Lee Form IMG-Backed Digital Talent Management Agency". Variety. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
  20. ^ "Joe Sugg, Caspar Lee And Img's Margravine Launches U.S. Base And Rebrands As Mve". IMDb. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
  21. ^ "Emirates FA Cup Overseas Broadcast Rights" (Press release). London: The Football Association. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  22. ^ "Hyde Park Winter Wonderland". Archived from the original on January 7, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2019. PWR Events, an International Management Group (UK) Limited company, are proud to be actively producing sustainable events and are certified to ISO 20121, the international standard for sustainability in event management.
  23. ^ "Super League and RFL announce strategic partnership with IMG".
  24. ^ "Sponsors - Sydney International Tennis". apiainternational.com.au. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  25. ^ "Ion Țiriac Sells The Mutua Madrid Open To IMG". Romania Journal. December 6, 2021.
  26. ^ "Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell - 65º Trofeo Conde de Godó". www.barcelonaopenbancsabadell.com. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  27. ^ "IMG College - History". www.imgcollege.com. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  28. ^ "IMG appointed as Global Esports Federation's strategic partner". Gambling Insider. April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  29. ^ "IMG - Tennis". Archived from the original on February 25, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  30. ^ "Experience the 2018 FIFA World Cup Onboard". Airways Magazine. June 14, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  31. ^ a b Fox, David (February 6, 2019). "IMG Studios draws up route plan to IP for Premier League and Rugby World Cup". SVG Europe. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
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