IMG Loses Albrecht, Keeps Slamball

Ex-H.B.O. chief Chris Albrecht may have abruptly left his post atop IMG's media and entertainment business, but fans of slamball, the hybrid sport he championed, need not fret.

We recently wrote about Albrecht's decision to invest $5 million of IMG's money in slamball, which is essentially basketball on a court of trampolines with football body checks thrown in.

Brian Weiss, an IMG spokesperson, said in an email that "there will not be any changes to SlamBall programming, the establishment of the league or the broadcast/cable/online deals." In fact, Weiss said he anticipates announcing more details on content distribution, including an international component, as soon as next week.

"Chris was, of course, one of the IMG executives involved in bringing the project to IMG," Weiss continued. "But the investment in SlamBall was made by IMG and IMG has the equity position in the enterprise, so SlamBall will continue as scheduled."

Albrecht and IMG announced yesterday that he would be leaving the company after less than a year on the job. The press release noted that Albrecht was brought on to raise significant funds to expand IMG's media and entertainment business, but that "market conditions intervened to frustrate that goal." While the release said that the parties are separating on an "amicable basis," Albrecht and IMG owner Ted Forstmann reportedly did not get along well.

This is Albrecht's second sudden departure from a high-level job. In May 2007, he was asked to resign as co-chief executive for HBO, where he oversaw the development of The Sopranos and Sex and the City, after being arrested for allegedly choking his girlfriend while on a trip to Las Vegas (that girlfriend is now his fiancée).

In the release, Albrecht said he will return to Foresee Entertainment, the independent content creation, development, and distribution company he formed prior to joining IMG. But fans of slamball, at least, can rest easy.

-Andrea Chalupa

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