Ari Emanuel’s on tough new field with sports-heavy IMG
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Ari Emanuel’s representation firm will expand into sports with the addition of IMG. He’s on the verge of acquiring the sports-heavy outfit IMG Worldwide for $ 2.3 billion, but Ari Emanuel is already taking a mulligan.
The hard-hitting Hollywood power player, who is awaiting final approval to add IMG to his William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, got in the rough Wednesday for wearing jeans to the chichi Masters golf tournament at Augusta, sources tell Confidenti@l.
Realizing the error, Emanuel later returned to the storied Georgia course in slacks and a jacket, the sources said.
Emanuel’s fashion faux pas is emblematic of the problem he’s having in taming his new entertainment industry monster, Confidenti@l has learned. His operation will soon get larger with the addition of IMG, which reps stars like quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning.
“It’s symptomatic of Ari not understanding the environment in which he’s now operating,” says one prominent showbiz insider.
And Emanuel risks losing top talent. Alan Zucker, who handles the Mannings, Hall of Famer Joe Montana and baseball slugger Joe Mauer, is accurate to taking his talents to Excel Sports Management group, said our insider. Excel is credited with brokering the multimillion-dollar deal that brought Masahiro Tanaka to the Yankees. Neither Zucker nor Excel returned a request for note.
“This is the commencement of the expected exodus since Ari and Patrick [Whitesell] took over,” says our insider.
Justin K. Aller/Getty Images New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, along with brother Peyton of the Denver Broncos, is one of the athletes represented by IMG. Power broker Emanuel is known more for toughness than tact. HBO’s “Entourage” modeled its vicious Ari Gold character after him, and his brother Rahm is the tough-talking mayor of his native Chicago.
There’s no doubt Emanuel has the guts to lead IMG — or the Marine Corps — but it’s unclear if the 53-year-ancient Endeavor Outfit founder has the skills to run the big company that was forged from the merger with the mighty William Morris Outfit in 2009.
“They’ve ‘dealt’ with athletes, but this is a different beast,” says our insider. “They bought a company that was much larger than them.”
Indeed, IMG Worldwide is a whole different ballgame. The firm reportedly employs 3,500 people in 30 countries. William Morris Endeavor, which was never regarded as a heavyweight in the sports world, is best known for repping moviemakers like Steven Spielberg, Ben Affleck and Denzel Washington from offices in New York and Hollywood.
A rep for William Morris Endeavor Entertainment declined to note.
