Grand Slam Track presented itself as the most lucrative experience in track and field history. However, its bank account is not as was promised.
Michael Johnson’s brainchild recently missed yet another owed payment amid serious financial struggles.
This latest incident involving Grand Slam Track took place just a few days before the governing body of track and field issued a threat regarding unpaid prize money and appearance fees. It further proves that the money just doesn’t exist.
Grand Slam Track is in trouble.
Johnson, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, founded Grand Slam Track as an alternative to the Diamond League and other circuits. The goal was to elevate the sport through a more concentrated format focused on head-to-head races between the best athletes in the world.
They were supposedly competing for a prize pool of more than $12.5 million over the course of four different meets in 2025. Only three went on according to schedule. The fourth meet was preemptively canceled amid the ongoing uncertainty, which immediately cast doubt on Grand Slam’s future.
If that was not bad enough, the athletes have yet to receive what they were promised.
Champion athletes are begging their prize money and appearance fees, which the league vowed to pay over the next few months. World Athletics even warned Grand Slam Track of potential punishment.
The athletes aren’t the only ones who got snubbed!
Not did Johnson and co. fail the athletes, Grand Slam Track owes $77,896 to the Ansin Sports Complex for its meet back in May. $30,000 was due on July 18. Not a single penny was paid.
The good news for Grand Slam is that its contract with the Sports Complex does not appear to have any sort of interest clause for missed payments. The bad news is that it obviously does not have the money to pay $78,000 to a venue it used more than two months ago.
I don’t know how it is going to find more than $10 million in prize money and appearance fees if it does not have $78k. That seems like a pretty big gap to close.
With that being said, I can imagine a world where Grand Slam Track snubbed the sports complex payment because the contract lacks any sort of punishment for late payments. Why pay now what you can pay later?
Either way, Michael Johnson’s alternative track and field circuit is not long for this world if you ask me.
The post Grand Slam Track Missed Yet Another Payment Of Just $30K As Unpaid Athletes Beg For $12 Million appeared first on BroBible.
Grand Slam Track Missed Yet Another Payment Of Just $30K As Unpaid Athletes Beg For $12 Million
Pinoy Human Rights
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