Most families will never set foot on the IMG Academy campus. Now they can rent a piece of it for $10 a month. The Bradenton, Florida, sports school launched IMG Academy+ on Monday, a digital platform that packages its athlete development methods for kids anywhere, starting at age 8, according to IMG's announcement.
IMG Academy+ Essentials, Personal Coach and NCSA Recruiting
There are three pieces:
- Essentials: an on-demand library of more than 1,000 pieces of content on leadership, habits and performance, for $10 a month.
- Personal Coach: live one-on-one mental performance and nutrition coaching with scheduled sessions and messaging. Buying Sandlot reported packages start at $799. IMG says more coaching disciplines are coming.
- College Recruiting: run through NCSA College Recruiting by IMG Academy, which IMG says connects families to more than 40,000 college coaches. It's online now and joins the app in the first quarter of 2027.
The app runs on desktop, iPhone and Android. Chief commercial officer Chris Ciaccio pitched it as a reach play, saying a young athlete's "zip code no longer determines their access" to elite development.
The 25 Percent Recruiting Claim
IMG's biggest number is its recruiting reach. The company says about 25 percent of open college roster spots in the 2025-26 class went to athletes who used its recruiting services. It didn't explain how that was measured, so treat it as a company claim.
A Subscription Push From a $1.25 Billion Brand
Buying Sandlot described IMG Academy+ as a consumer version of IMG's Elevate curriculum, which it already licenses to schools and coaches. It's the latest step outside the campus for a company that Endeavor sold to BPEA EQT for $1.25 billion in 2023, as Youth Sports Business Report recapped this week. The play is clear: families who will never pay boarding school tuition can still pay a monthly fee.
The recruiting tools arrive in the app early next year. For more on how athletes get seen, visit BallerTube athletes.
