Charlotte-based Muhleman Marketing Inc. (MMI) announced
on Friday that it has been acquired by IMG. MMI will
continue to operate under its existing name and become a
division of IMG. MMI Founder & CEO Max Muhleman will remain
in his role with the company, as will Senior VPs Tamera
Green, Steven Moore and Lee Muhleman (MMI). Financial terms
of the deal were not disclosed. In Charlotte, Clifford
Glickman wrote that the transaction "adds two key areas of
expertise" to IMG: MMI's brand consulting business, with its
"emphasis" on NASCAR, and its stadium research. Meanwhile,
MMI "gains access to IMG's worldwide staffing and clients."
Max Muhleman: "Sponsorship is about contacts and reputation.
IMG will at least triple our base of contacts." Muhleman
added that he has "turned down" several opportunities to
research markets for European soccer stadiums "because it
was just too difficult to manage from Charlotte." But IMG
Senior Corporate VP Bud Stanner said, "We should be able to
help them grow that business substantially, simply because
we're out there" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 11/26). Max Muhleman
said that he's had "four or five interesting offers in the
past few years," but "this is the one that made the most
sense." MMI will maintain its Charlotte headquarters and
its 25 employees (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 11/29 issue).
