Mark H. McCormack
Mark H. McCormack is credited with being a legendary executive for literally
inventing the field of sports marketing as the founder, chairman and CEO of International
Management Group (IMG). In addition to being the world’s largest athlete representation
firm, IMG is the largest independent producer of TV sports programming and distributor
of sports TV rights. IMG also promotes, manages and owns hundreds of sporting events
throughout the world.
From representing the majority of top players in tennis for over four decades, to
pioneering television coverage globally, to expanding the scope, size, and reach of the
world’s foremost events, to his ability in raising thousands of dollars annually for
charitable organizations through tennis, to today’s online innovations which enable fans
to follow every match point, McCormack’s influence on tennis will be felt for decades to
come.
McCormack revolutionized the sporting world by establishing athlete
representation as a distinct business discipline and by demonstrating the value of sports
as a cost-effective marketing tool. This system has given economic health to the players
and tennis institutions and the industry as a whole.
IMG’s licensing agency, the largest in the world, its literary agency, and its
affiliation with recreational amenities and world-class destination venues have further
contributed to the sport. McCormack shaped the way all sports are marketed around the
world. He was first in the marketplace and his influence on the world of sports,
particularly his ability to combine athlete representation and television broadcasting, will
forever be a standard within the tennis industry.
Mark McCormack was the only son of publisher Ned McCormack, and grew up
in Chicago. He was a 1951 graduate of the College of William and Mary, and then Yale
Law School (1954). He also served briefly in the United States Army.
He was an accomplished athlete, qualifying for the 1958 U.S. Open Golf
Championships. Thereafter, he turned to his legal profession and joined the Cleveland
law firm of Arter and Hadden. In 1960 he began his journey in sports marketing,
realizing the extraordinary potential in the sports arena. IMG was born, and the first
sports figure signed (with a handshake) was a young golfer named Arnold Palmer IMG’s first client.
After Palmer, golfers Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus were signed. McCormack
now had the three biggest names in golf and developed target marketing programs and
promotions around them. He then turned to tennis, signing tennis’ Grand Slam Champion
Rod “The Rocket” Laver in 1968, and eventually expanded into other sports. Today, IMG
has grown to be a major player in all sports markets.
By 1985, IMG’s roster included Palmer, soccer’s Pele, tennis players Bjorn Borg,
John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, skier Jean-Claude
Killy, runners Sebastian Coe, Bill Rodgers, and Mary Decker Slaney, baseball star Jim
Rice, and football player Herschel Walker. Additionally, two of the greatest players in
golf and tennis respectively, Tiger Woods and Pete Sampras, signed under the IMG
umbrella.
By joining IMG, athletes knew they would be well represented and that there was
an increased earning potential outside of their sport. And with IMG, every detail was
managed – from contract negotiations to investing their earnings – every detail was
handled.
McCormack himself took an intensely personal interest in many of the athletes.
Besides lasting friendships with Palmer, Killy, and hundreds of others, McCormack later
in his career became a father figure to other athletes, including tennis star Monica Seles.
IMG’s broadcast division Trans World International (TWI), set up in the 1960s to
film a handful of golf events, is the world’s largest independent television sports
production company and rights distributor.
McCormack also published numerous books, including the bestseller, What They
Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School.
McCormack was noted as one of the most powerful men in sports. McCormack
was voted “Most Powerful Man in Tennis” by Tennis Magazine, “Most Powerful Man in
Golf” by Golf Digest, and in 1990, Sports Illustrated called him “The Most Powerful
Man in Sport.”
In July 2006 he was selected for induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in
the lifetime achievement category, and he was officially inducted in October 2006.
Arnold Palmer accepted the induction on McCormack’s behalf.