William Morris Endeavor co-CEOs Patrick Whitesell and Ari Emanuel are expected to visit IMG College headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C., today to see the operation and meet further with IMG College President Ben Sutton, sources said. The most immediate question facing WME in the aftermath of its $2.4B acquisition of IMG is whether certain company leadership – namely Sutton and IMG Sports & Entertainment President George Pyne – will stay with the company. In a memo to staff yesterday, Sutton wrote that both of them have been asked to stay, but neither have made a commitment yet. It is uncertain which direction they will go. Some industry experts believe Pyne and Sutton are a package deal because they have worked so well together in building IMG College from $25M in net income to $70M over the past three years.
Meanwhile, the college business is new to WME, but they have expressed a desire to stay the course. "They foresee opportunities to further develop the college business," Sutton wrote in the memo to staff. In the meantime, Sutton directed his team of more than 1,000 employees at IMG College to conduct business as usual.
SBD/SBJ has asked industry leaders about the impact and significance of the sale of IMG to WME and Silver Lake Partners. Read their thoughts.
