IMG Worldwide scores sports deal with China: WSJ

(Reuters) - Sports marketing company IMG Worldwide Inc has struck an exclusive 20-year deal with China's national TV broadcaster that gives the US company the right to develop and market new sports events, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Seeking to capitalize on the growing interest in sports ahead of next month's Beijing Olympics, privately held IMG and state-run CCTV are launching a venture that aims to step up the commercialization of sports in China, the paper said.

"The fundamental purpose of the joint venture is to marry what CCTV does in China and what IMG does all over the world," the Wall Street Journal quoted Ted Forstmann, IMG's chairman and chief executive, as saying.

The two sides are expected to announce the deal Thursday night in Beijing; financial terms have not been disclosed, the paper said.

The partnership intends to develop sports and entertainment events across China for broadcast on CCTV -- whose daily audience of 680 million people is the world's largest -- and to sell sponsorship rights to those events, the Journal said.

Forstmann, a founding partner of buyout firm Forstmann Little & Co, acquired IMG in 2004. It runs media sales and sponsorship for major events like the Wimbledon tennis championship and the Australian golf open.

IMG could not be reached for an immediate comment.

(Reporting by Purwa Naveen Raman in Bangalore; Editing by Paul Bolding)