re: IMG Academy (FL)

That's exactly what it is.... a factory. I have had communication with several individuals who went there and it seems that sports is first priority. Big money had come in in the past to develop the school. If I am correct I believe there is a deal with a major sport clothing company but don't quote me on that.

IMG is a huge multi-national corporation. The IMG Academy is just a part of it. Here is a link to their corporate homepage. The IMG Academy is listed on the bottom right, second column.

IMG

Yep now has surfaced.

IMG (the company) is tasked with running sports advertising for university programs, selling big sponsorships like scoreboard ads, field billboards, etc. My wife almost took a job with them at Southern Miss. They also handle Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, and Florida State to name a few. LSU handles all of their sports advertising in house. Being that we have gotten some IMG kids leads me to believe that they (the company) don't allow the conflict of which schools they work for to get in the way or help sway the student athletes decisions in recruiting, but it's an interesting thing to think about.
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This is the extreme. I wouldn't say it's the new normal. The one nock is that they can't play for the state title in Florida. There are other schools who will be seeing this happen as well, I believe I read that they are voting on the eligibility of other Schools like St Thomas Aquinas to play for state title.

I've actually looked into this for my son as they offer all the way down to middle school (where he is). There are no scholarships by technical term, because they are not allowed to for some reason that slips my mind. They do a fee structure based on family income, which I am sure can be manipulated and acts as a scholarship.

Players do have an intense class schedule combined with their athletics. There are a few kids I read about who specifically said they were shocked at the schoolwork lol. When they are traveling for games, they handle their class work via laptops and still maintain their deadlines. Some of the kids did say it felt more like a college prep, as the teachers supposedly have better capabilities of working with individual players who need extra attention.

I'd still consider it for my son if my wife wouldn't be torn up having him living in Florida for most of the year. No way we're paying 70k, I haven't checked what our pay structure would actually be since it's supposed to be adjusted by income assistance. Not sure my boy will ever even be a college prospect since he still is in middle school, but he's the best pure football player (not athlete) I see amongst his peers. He has a love for the game so I definitely would want to give him every opportunity to succeed. He is a huge Mississippi State fan unfortunately (blame his mom), but he despises Alabama like a good child should lol

Useless thread

re: Lowell Narcisse leaning towards LSU(Posted on 1/14/16 at 7:14 pm to WARBOY)
He has been offered by IMG for his Senior year. He is currently deciding if he wants to attend.

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I'd still consider it for my son if my wife wouldn't be torn up having him living in Florida for most of the year. No way we're paying 70k, I haven't checked what our pay structure would actually be since it's supposed to be adjusted by income assistance. Not sure my boy will ever even be a college prospect since he still is in middle school, but he's the best pure football player (not athlete) I see amongst his peers. He has a love for the game so I definitely would want to give him every opportunity to succeed. He is a huge Mississippi State fan unfortunately (blame his mom), but he despises Alabama like a good child should lol

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so much cringe...you planning on asking your son if he wants to leave his friends and family for high school or you just shipping him off?

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They are working in a very, very thin grey area. They are providing free training (that they normally charge for) to "amateur" athletes in order to secure professional relationships for future sponsorship and talent management agreements.

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IMG manages the careers of many professional athletes, like:

Colin Kaepernick
Cam Newton
Matthew Stafford

IMG Academy is clearly a place for IMG to develop relationships with promising athletes who will then become IMG clients.

Doesn't any of this smell rotten to the NCAA?

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It could very well be IMG's business model to give a reduction/waiver to as many potential pro athletes as possible and then collect it back when the athletes become IMG's clients. Sure, they won't get 100% client representation, but they'll develop a relationship with enough of them to more than make up for it.

IMG is just casting bread upon the water.

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