IMG (company)

International Management Group
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
DivisionsArt + Commerce
College
Events
Fashion
Media - Including Rights, Production & IMG ARENA
Models
Licensing
Websitewww.img.com

IMG, originally known as the International Management Group, is a global sports, fashion, events and media company headquartered in New York City. 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. It has been owned by Endeavor since 2013.

History

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. 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.

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.

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 (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.

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. 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.

Media

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,CBSUEFA 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, the live, linear sports channel for the airline and cruise industries, and EDGEsport, the linear action sports channel.

IMG maintains the world’s largest sports archive with more than 250,000 hours of footage and operates joint ventures with the Premier League (Premier League Productions), Premier League (Premier League Productions), French Tennis Federation, DP World Tour (European Tour Productions), Euroleague Basketball and Associated Press (SNTV).

In 2012, IMG created IMG ARENA, a sports data and technology company for the betting, media and professional sectors. It offers digital content solutions, official fastpath data feeds, live streaming services, events centers, virtual products, front-end data solutions for media and broadcast, and open data for real-time performance analysis.

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

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

Models

IMG Models is an international modelling agency headquartered in New York City and with additional offices in London, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, and Sydney.[1] 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.

Consulting

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

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 10-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.

In May 2017 it was announced that Etihad Airways would collaborate with IMG Models, on a show called Model Diaries, showcasing models in high fashion as they travel to fashion shows around the world.

In 2022, the Rugby Football League (RFL) and Super League Europe entered a 12-year strategic partnership with IMG assisting in competition restructuring, content production and innovation, domestic and international distribution of media rights, digital transformation, brand strategy, streaming, and data collection and product development.

In 2023, IMG extended its long-standing exclusive media rights and commercial representation partnership with the All-England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) for The Championships, Wimbledon.

Also in 2023, IMG renewed and expanded its long-standing partnership with The R&A to provide digital services; production and content for its professional championships; international media rights distribution; partnerships across The R&A’s portfolio of championships and assets; and event management support for its championships.

Events

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

Art

Association Football


Basketball

Entertainment

Figure Skating

Golf

Motorsports

Rugby League

Running

Strongman

Surfing

Tennis

Triathlon

Volleyball

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

IMG Licensing

IMG's Licensing Division works in trademark licensing and currently provides its services to more than 100 Licensors of intellectual property (corporate trademarks, Institutions and non-profits, Automotive companies, Fashion, Lifestyle, Entertainment and Events, Athletes, Legends and personalities).

IMG eSports

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.

IMG Tennis

IMG represents tennis athletes worldwide.

Channels

Sport 24

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 .

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.

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. 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.

EDGEsport

EDGEsport, owned and operated by IMG, is an international media platform, consolidating premium adventure sport from events, brands and federations. Distributed to 60 countries, EDGEsport delivers live and recorded media content from snow, skate, sailing, cycling, MTB, motorsports and more.

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-11-27 06:29 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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