IMG Golf, looking to fortify its North America practice, is on the verge of acquiring Icon Sports Management, a firm whose athletes include Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson. The acquisition, industry sources say, will trigger a restructuring of leadership within IMG’s golf division in the U.S.
Icon’s founder and president, R.J. Nemer, will become the head of IMG Golf Americas’ athlete client business, which covers North and South America, but primarily focuses on the U.S.
Clarke Jones, an IMG veteran of 20-plus years, previously had overseen all of the operations for IMG Golf Americas. Jones now will run IMG Golf consulting, where he will work with the business’s corporate clients, such as Chevron and Starwood Hotels.
Ken Kennerly will manage events for IMG Golf. Nemer, Jones, and Kennerly all will report to Guy Kinnings, the global head of IMG Golf, sources said. The new structure is modeled after IMG Golf’s division in Europe and Asia.
IMG executives would not comment for this story.
In Icon, IMG is getting a business that both represents golfers and runs events and hospitality. All of these business units are expected to fold into IMG Golf.
Icon’s website lists 27 clients, including 15 PGA Tour pros, most notably Poulter, Stenson and Ryan Moore, along with Champions Tour players in Fred Funk and Chi Chi Rodriguez. Icon also represents players on the Web.com and European tours as well as golf instructor David Leadbetter, CBS golf producer Lance Barrow and golf announcer and former PGA Tour pro Matt Gogel.
Nemer’s business is based in Stow, Ohio, near the Cleveland offices for IMG Golf. It is uncertain how many of Nemer’s dozen employees will move with the firm to IMG.
The acquisition brings to a close several months of negotiations as IMG Golf has worked to rebuild its athlete representation business in the U.S. The company has lost several of its key agents in the last few years and with them went a handful of high-profile clients, including Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Luke Donald. The exits began in 2011 when IMG and Mark Steinberg parted ways, followed by departures from Jon Wagner, Jeff Stacy and Kevin Lynch.
While IMG’s global golf business, which includes athletes, TV production, events and licensing, flourished, its U.S. business began to struggle in 2011 and ’12. Kinnings in the last two years has worked feverishly to stem that tide.
IMG Golf acquired Kennerly’s events business and opened an office in Palm Beach Gardens in 2013 to give its Cleveland-based operation a much-needed presence in Florida.
The acquisition of Icon is IMG Golf’s first major move since the company was bought by WME for $2.4 billion last year. WME has stressed that it will invest in IMG’s businesses through hires and acquisitions, and sources indicate that the Icon move fits within that strategy, especially in growing the golf division’s U.S. base of business.
In recent months, IMG Golf also has signed up-and-comer Patrick Reed, already a four-time winner on the PGA Tour, and Japanese golfer Hideki Matsuyama, a top-20 player in the world rankings. Now IMG’s client list includes Ernie Els, Jason Dufner, Charl Schwartzel, Matteo Manassero, Padraig Harrington and Michelle Wie (see chart above). Icon will give IMG’s domestic golf business another lift with its client list of U.S.-based players.
Nemer, after working as an attorney in Northeast Ohio, founded Icon Sports Management in 1997 at the age of 30, signing former PGA Tour pro Joe Ogilvie as his first client. He is known among his peers to take a low-profile approach with an ability to forge strong relationships within the industry.
Nemer did not return calls for comment.
IMG Golf’s acquisition further consolidates an industry that’s undergone significant change in recent years. Lagardère Unlimited made giant strides under the direction of President and CEO Andy Pierce, a former IMG executive. Lagardère acquired Crown Sports Management and brought on agent Jay Danzi in 2013. That deal was preceded in 2012 by the acquisition of Gaylord Sports.
