San Francisco, July 21, 1997 - International Management Group (IMG), the world's premier promoter of sports and cultural events, has selected the Content Group, a San Francisco-based company specializing in content management, to extend the reach of its tennis events beyond the stadium seat or the television screen with highly interactive multimedia experiences. The Content Group's first project for IMG, TekSport , makes its public debut today at the Bank of the West Tennis Classic, the oldest continuous Women only tennis event in the world, held July 21-27 at Stanford University's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

"We want to profoundly enrich the experience of the fans in the stadium, and to make tennis appealing and accessible to children and families around the world," said IMG Senior Vice President Erik van Dillen. "The Content Group is the only company with the capabilities to manage the full breadth of our vision in real time, understanding the content we are creating and knowing how to deliver it across multiple media with maximum impact in a very intensive time period."

TekSport is an aggressive project that makes use of the Internet and other interactive technology to extend the week-long tennis event. The Content Group is coordinating all aspects of the technical content creation, content implementation across multiple media, and content management. The company is working with IMG to use the products and services of the event sponsors, including Hitachi, Sun, and 3Com. FCI Communications, a strategic partner, is working with the Content Group to provide the web site. Other contributors include the MIT Media Lab, which is assisting with services and technologies. The event includes :

• a website updated daily with scores, videos, and digital photos uplinked instantly;
  
• a Cyber Cafe on site with notebook computers accessing the website and a special intranet featuring games, trivia, and live scheduled on-line chats with players;
• a Sports Academy for EPATT, East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring program, where at-risk youth aged 13 to 17 learn basic web design, sports journalism, and other activities;
• a videowall of four 100-inch Hitachi video screens with live feed from tennis matches, taped interviews, and programmed features on the history of this 27-year-old tennis classic. The videowall is fully interactive - integrated with the CyberCafe -with video shot, edited, and updated in real time;
• an Operations Center for all the technology and production, set up as a technology showcase.

The Operations Center for all the technology and production will be set up as a technology showcase.
The Content Group's Services Utilizing a unique, hybrid approach that draws upon the creative production process and the integration of key technologies, the Content Group offers a comprehensive set of services, solutions, and partnerships designed to help organizations more effectively manage content and vital media assets. Central to this approach is an end-to-end methodology called the Leveraged Content Model™ which, for the first time, provides a set of tightly integrated services and solutions that fully address the creation, implementation, and management of content.

While most companies have had rigorous financial data management in place for decades, there have not been similar types of management systems installed for content-driven applications that rely increasingly on rich media-text, images, graphics, video, and audio. Utilizing the Leveraged Content Model™, the Content Group provides services and solutions that help companies gain control of these increasingly important assets. By integrating the various production workflows into a multimedia-enabled database repository called a Content Base, the Leveraged Content Model™ enables the most effective management and reuse of content for multiple media and digital distribution mechanisms such as the Web, broadcast, cable, and satellite.

Since the Content Group maintains that content has a lifecycle, it has structured the Leveraged Content Model™ to include a Content Audit™, Informed Creative™ production services, Content Engineering™ integration services, and Content Management Solutions. This methodological approach identifies each step in the production process where critical information about content can be compiled for the most effective indexing, searching and retrieval a company's content assets.

About I M G
IMG manages sponsorship, licensing, and broadcasting for many of the oldest and most distinguished events on the international sports calendar, such as Wimbledon, the British Open, and the America's Cup. The company also creates, develops, and operates major tournaments, including the Toyota World Match Play Championship, Discover Card Stars on Ice, and the San Francisco Marathon. Founded by international entrepreneur and author Mark H. McCormack, IMG represents clients as diverse as golf greats Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, the Nobel Foundation, world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, tennis star Andre Agassi, the AmericaÕs Cup, footbal legend Joe Montana, and the Mayo Clinic.

About The Content Group
The Content Group, headquartered in San Francisco, provides companies with an end-to-end content management solution that addresses the creation, implementation, and ongoing management of content. The Content Group also publishes an industry report called ContentWatch™ that provides customers with the latest information about content management covering emerging trends, news briefs, innovative solutions and technologies, and case study profiles. With its intimate knowledge of emerging markets and its strategic thinking, creative abilities, technical acumen, and proven methodology, the Content Group is uniquely poised to provide companies with the necessary solutions for content management in the decades ahead.

PR contacts :
Drew Lane or Cindy Allen

Alexander Communications Inc.

[415].923.1660
dlane@alexander-pr.com
callen@alexander-pr.com