Sale Of IMG Academy, FL School For Elite Athletes, Considered: Report

BRADENTON, FL — Endeavor, which has owned IMG Academy since 2014, is considering selling the elite sports academy, Sportico reported.

The company was contacted by unnamed interested parties about purchasing the school. Endeavor has previously rejected offers to buy IMG, reports said.

The 500-acre campus has about 1,400 full-time students at its boarding school and also works with another 15,000 athletes each year through camps, online coaching and recruiting assistance. The school has produced a number of college and professional athletes over the years.

IMG Academy launched in 1978 as the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. Bollettieri, who died in December, coached a number of the sport’s superstars, including Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, Jimmy Arias and Jim Courier, at the school.

• Also Read: Nick Bollettieri, Renowned Tennis Coach, Dies At 91 In Bradenton

In the 1990s, new sports programs were added, including golf in 1993, followed by baseball and soccer a year later, according to IMG’s website.

The school continue expanding its offerings in the 2000s — basketball in 2001 and football and lacrosse in 2009. As the school expanded, track and football programs were added in 2013.

William Morris Endeavor and its private equity financier, Silver Lake Properties, bought IMG Worldwide Holdings Inc., which included IMG Academy, for $2.3 billion from Forstmann Little & Co., according to the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

With this acquisition of IMG, WME formed Endeavor, according to the IMG Worldwide Holdings website.

After Endeavor took over the campus, it opened a new academic center and a second dormitory in 2015. The following year saw the debut of the Performance and Sports Science Center, the new home of the academy’s Gatorade Sports Science Institute, the academy’s website said.

Since then, Endeavor has opened the 150-room Legacy Hotel for those visiting IMG, from families to out-of-the-area teams, as well as more on-campus housing, added NCSA College Recruiting to its roster of offerings, and expanded the academic center.

In July 2022, the expansion of the East Campus, which created a new home for the school’s tennis and basketball programs, was completed.

Today, IMG offers 15 sports programs for male and female student athletes in grades 6 through 12.