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US Olympic champion Michael Johnson has vowed to revolutionise athletics as he unveils a new competition designed to elevate the profiles of elite athletes.
Grand Slam Track, which is scheduled to begin next April, will select top athletes to spearhead Johnson’s new track league.
Backed by $30mn of commitments from investors, including Johnson’s partner Winners Alliance, Grand Slam Track aims to shake up athletics at a time when sovereign wealth funds, private equity and billionaires are pouring money into sports amid an intensifying battle to win fans’ attention. Winners Alliance is backed by hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman.
The league will hold four “Slams” a year. Los Angeles will host one event, and another will be held elsewhere in the US. Two other international locations will be selected. Participants will compete twice over the course of each three-day event.
Johnson, a four-time Olympic gold medal winner who will serve as the league’s first commissioner, told the Financial Times that the competition was “built for today’s audience”.
“We are able to capture and keep your attention because each race is short enough,” the former sprinter said. “The fans want to see the athletes more than just one time.”
The US would be a “very important market” for Grand Slam Track, he added, but stressed that the league would be global and feature athletes from around the world.
In a sign of the league’s appeal, US Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the world record holder for the 400-metre hurdles, was the first athlete to join Grand Slam Track.
Washington-based Winners Alliance, which is chaired by Ackman, manages the commercial rights of hundreds of athletes. It announced a strategic partnership with Johnson in February to “revolutionise” track and field by creating a “more athlete-centric model”.
A report by consultancy Two Circles found that athletics is one of a number of sports, including cycling and swimming, where “overall fan numbers are massive, but frequent engagement is low”. It recommended that the sport’s organisers experiment with new rules, formats, schedules and competitions.
Grand Slam Track will focus on “fierce rivalries” and “head to head” battles rather than the winning times clocked by athletes in a move to highlight the personalities on the track. Athletes will wear their own customised and sponsored kits rather than the traditional hip numbers or bibs.
A set of 48 racers will sign up to compete at all four Slams, earning an annual base salary at a time when athlete pay is under scrutiny for being too low. Johnson said he agreed with World Athletics’ recent move to pay gold medal winners at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Another group of 48 “challengers” will earn appearance fees to compete at Grand Slam Track events.
The league said it would meet regulations set by the sports governing body World Athletics, enabling athletes to earn ranking points.
In early June, World Athletics separately revealed plans to set up a new biennial competition starting in 2026. The competition will feature a compact, three-day schedule to lure in new fans and give athletes more commercial freedom to showcase their sponsors and collaborate on content.
The federation’s Ultimate Championship will carry a $10mn prize fund and every athlete will be paid for participating. Grand Slam Track will award $12.6mn of prize money across the slams in addition to salaries and appearance fees.
Johnson said one of the “biggest complaints” from fans that he hoped the new competition would address was that “they can’t find the sport when they want to”.
“The athletes are frustrated because of the pay, but they’re also frustrated because they don’t feel like the meets that they’re competing in are readily accessible by fans,” Johnson said, adding that Grand Slam Track was in discussions with broadcasters abroad and in the US for a rights deal.
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