SeeCalifornia.com

While a number of California’s athletes (including a fair share from Cal Berkeley) are gearing up and hoping to win gold at Rio 2016 Olympics August 5-21, this week on the home turf there are two sporting events that share a common thread and plenty of excitement. Bank of the West Tennis Classic in Stanford and Van’s US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach involve very different types of competitions and cultures; both are owned or managed by the same firm, IMG. The mega sports and entertainment company which is officially called WME | IMG, announced last week the acquisition of UFC, the world’s premier professional mixed martial arts (MMA) organization.

It’s a big deal for spectators seeing Serena practice with her sister, Venus Williams, who competes in this prestigious California tournament July 18-24, but in the IMG world this is a drop in the (tennis) bucket of more than 52,000 hours of sports programming for clients like The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (Wimbledon), the National Football League, Premier League, Major League Soccer and Euroleague.