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Magnus offered IMG College post

Editor’s note: This story has been updated as of Monday, Dec. 15. ESPN informed Burke Magnus that it is not letting the executive out of his contract early to take a job running IMG College. ESPN President John Skipper and ESPN Executive Vice President of Programming John Wildhack made separate calls to Magnus to say that ESPN would not break with company policy and let Magnus leave before his contract ends, which is in about a year and a half.

Longtime ESPN executive Burke Magnus has been targeted as the person WME-IMG wants to run IMG College, according to multiple sources.

WME-IMG officially has offered Magnus the job to be president and CEO of the division, working with IMG College Chairman and current President Ben Sutton and reporting to WME-IMG co-CEO Patrick Whitesell. Magnus would be based in New York if he takes the job, while IMG College is based in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Burke Magnus has more than  a year left on his ESPN contract.
Photo by: MARC BRYAN-BROWN
One of the most well-connected executives in college sports through his two-decade tenure at the network, Magnus is said to want to make the move. The problem is that the executive is under contract to ESPN for another year and a half, and that’s where the uncertainty lies.

It’s not known whether ESPN will let Magnus out of his contract to take the IMG College job. Sources said that the issue is in front of ESPN President John Skipper, and he has not made a decision yet.

ESPN does not allow its executives to easily get out of their contracts early. Last January, for example, ESPN refused to allow production executive Jamie Horowitz to end his contract two years early to take a job producing the “Today” show for NBC. After five months of negotiations, ESPN finally let Horowitz move in May, picking up some assets from NBC in exchange.

Magnus’ move could be viewed differently. Unlike the “Today” show, which competes directly with Disney’s “Good Morning America,” IMG College does not compete directly with significant Disney assets, although there is some small competition with ESPN in radio and in advertising and sponsorships.

It is not known what the move might mean for Sutton’s day-to-day role as chairman. Sutton signed a five-year contract this past summer that runs for three years with an option for two more.

If Magnus takes the job, he will be inheriting the largest sports marketing company in the college space, including businesses in multimedia rights, licensing and other ancillary businesses.

Magnus would bring a wealth of knowledge and relationships to IMG College from his 19 years at ESPN, much of which was spent leading the Bristol, Conn.-based company’s college coverage, which included negotiating rights deals, launching ESPNU and bringing the BCS championship to cable for the first time.

If Magnus joins the company, it comes as IMG College has encountered an uneven past six months with new competitors entering college sports.

It lost one of its best revenue generators when the University of Kentucky took its multimedia rights from IMG College to JMI Sports in June. Kentucky also moved its licensing from the IMG-owned business Collegiate Licensing Co. to a fledgling agency called Fermata Partners.

Syracuse and Arizona State also publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the company and sought an exit from their deals. IMG College was able to negotiate an extension with Syracuse, while Arizona State and IMG were not able to reconcile and both sides have threatened legal action for breaking the agreement.

But WME-IMG remains bullish on the business, and Sutton points to more than 60 college renewals this year across multimedia rights and licensing as proof that the college business is as strong as ever. In fact, Sutton said at last week’s IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum that IMG College is on pace for a record-setting year in business development.

In August, Sutton moved into the chairman role and began the search, along with WME co-CEOs Whitesell and Ari Emanuel, for a new president and CEO to lead the day-to-day operations. The company’s search focused on four finalists before Magnus emerged as the favorite in recent weeks.

Magnus is one of the most well-liked executives in Bristol. Last year, he was promoted to senior vice president of programming acquisitions, reporting to John Wildhack, executive vice president of programming.

A member of SportsBusiness Journal/Daily’s Forty Under 40 class of 2006, the 48-year-old executive has garnered a reputation for having deep relationships with some of the most powerful people in college sports. For example, Magnus has spent a lot of time socializing with SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, and he is a regular golf partner with Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany.

IMG College was formed by the acquisition of Host Communications, Collegiate Licensing Co. and ISP Sports from 2007 through 2010, and it represents the multimedia rights for 80 schools and the licensing rights for more than 200 college entities.

Upon the acquisition of ISP in 2010, Sutton was named president of IMG College and he ultimately played an integral role in IMG’s $2.4 billion sale to William Morris Endeavor earlier this year.

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