Remembering Mark H. McCormack May 16, 2013 Leave a comment MHM_for_webIn 1960, Mark H. McCormack made a handshake deal with Palmer, whom he knew from college days when Mr. McCormack played for William and Mary and Palmer played for Wake Forest. Business Age said in 1994: ”McCormack invented the sports business. It was he who first realized that, within the golden triangle of sport, sponsorship and television, lay vast wealth, just waiting to be tapped.” It said that ”without his ruthlessness and marketing skills,” his clients ”would be a great deal poorer.” Mr. McCormack was the sole owner, chairman and chief executive of IMG, formerly International Management Group, which represents athletes and sponsors and owns tournaments. Its broadcast division is the largest producer of televised sports programming, other than the networks, and the largest seller of sports television rights. Before Mr. McCormack, athletes who made appearances and television commercials were customarily rewarded with watches or supplies of products or small amounts of money. Starting with the golfer Arnold Palmer, Mr. McCormack changed that. Mr. McCormack helped Palmer become golf’s first television celebrity athlete, maximizing his natural charisma and popularity. Palmer, his first full-time client, saw his annual income of $50,000 rise to $500,000 within three years and eventually to more than $10 million. 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 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. 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. 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. 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. In November 2010, The Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst announced that the vast archival collection of Mark H. McCormack, creator of the sport management and marketing industry, will be housed at the university, providing an unprecedented opportunity for research and education in the field. The extraordinary McCormack Collection gift comprises McCormack’s writings, photographs and client-related memorabilia, dating to 1960 when a handshake with legendary golfer Arnold Palmer launched what would become IMG International, the world’s largest sport management firm. The collection spans McCormack’s lifetime (1930-2003) and totals approximately 10,000 boxes, or 16,000 linear feet of material. In conjunction with Isenberg’s Department of Sport Management, the university’s W.E.B. Du Bois Library has embarked on a comprehensive assessment of the collection and will digitize much of it, making it available to researchers and students worldwide through a special website. It was McCormack’s vision of connecting the sports industry to the classroom that brought his middle son, Todd McCormack, to create the Sports Business Education Network (SBEN) last fall. This non-profit organization has been set up for students and young professionals looking to learn from the industry’s top executives. Also helping to expand the presence of student and professional organizations alike, SBEN is a tool like no other. On this 10th anniversary of his passing, we remember the founder of the sport industry, Mark H. McCormack, with a 20 year old speech at Oxford University as seen on SBEN.