And just like that... GST execs depart

Membrane wrote:

Don't be like Mike wrote:

Michael Johnson could have left T&F with a legacy of four Olympic gold medals, eight World Championship gold medals, and world records at both 200m and 400m. Now he will be known for creating a terrible failure of a track league that will probably end up failing to pay its athletes.

Meanwhile, Alexis Ohanian, a man with zero track experience, created a meet that was not only successful enough to return the next year but is being expanded, first with field events and eventually a series of meets.

Johnson was in over his head from day 1 and lacks the knowledge of how to create a successful business.

Also, is American Track League still running this year? I believe they hosted four meets last year (Bahamas, Edwin Moses in Atlanta, Ed Murphey in Memphis, and Holloway in Gainesville). They only one that seems to be happening this year is Murphey and if you go to the website, there is no mention of ATL.

Your mistake is in not realizing what a lot of people have plainly suggested. You actually believe that GST was an unintentional failure? Of course it wasn't. Michael Johnson, Kyle Merber, and investor Bill Ackman pulled off a scam. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain from the moment GST was announced and the details and prize money were announced.

It was simple. "Let's have four meets in four prime locations and let's lure Olympic athletes by promising them $100,000 if they place best in a two-event double combo. Their agreement to participate automatically captures their sponsors who will want to advertise and pay us millions to run ads and display their logos. We also will get money from broadcasting services and other advertisers along with ticket sales. At the last minute we can use the excuse of low ratings or anything else to cancel the last meet and make up further excuses to not pay the athletes. "Civil Unrest in LA" gave these crooks another excuse even though it wouldn't have affected the meet at all and made no sense.

Now time will give these crooks the opportunity to conceal and embezzle as much revenue as possible, cook the accounting books, and file bankruptcy claiming they don't have the funds to pay the promised prize money. The whole thing is an obvious swindle. Why can't you see this? You are completely misinterpreting the events as Michael Johnson being in over his head and creating a catastrophic business failure, but the evidence points to this being a large con job.

As unlikeable as they may be, one must give credit where it is due to Sha 'Carri and Noah for not falling for what they clearly saw as a ruse from the get-go. I bet anything Sydney probably saw right through this sham but cleverly used the opportunity to compete in off events, build her brand, and maybe demand further fees from her endorsements.

This whole thing has FRAUD written all over it in capital letters. If MJ did really mastermind this operation, I must say the elaborate idea and planning is an impressive con-job, though without a doubt criminal and immoral. He does seem like kind of an idiot though, so it is more likely the brains of this operation and the originator was likely Ackman or some investment crooks behind the scenes who planned the whole thing and just convinced MJ and used him for his name and recognition.

Membrane wrote:

Your mistake is in not realizing what a lot of people have plainly suggested. You actually believe that GST was an unintentional failure? Of course it wasn't. Michael Johnson, Kyle Merber, and investor Bill Ackman pulled off a scam. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain from the moment GST was announced and the details and prize money were announced.

It was simple. "Let's have four meets in four prime locations and let's lure Olympic athletes by promising them $100,000 if they place best in a two-event double combo. Their agreement to participate automatically captures their sponsors who will want to advertise and pay us millions to run ads and display their logos. We also will get money from broadcasting services and other advertisers along with ticket sales. At the last minute we can use the excuse of low ratings or anything else to cancel the last meet and make up further excuses to not pay the athletes. "Civil Unrest in LA" gave these crooks another excuse even though it wouldn't have affected the meet at all and made no sense.

Now time will give these crooks the opportunity to conceal and embezzle as much revenue as possible, cook the accounting books, and file bankruptcy claiming they don't have the funds to pay the promised prize money. The whole thing is an obvious swindle. Why can't you see this? You are completely misinterpreting the events as Michael Johnson being in over his head and creating a catastrophic business failure, but the evidence points to this being a large con job.

As unlikeable as they may be, one must give credit where it is due to Sha 'Carri and Noah for not falling for what they clearly saw as a ruse from the get-go. I bet anything Sydney probably saw right through this sham but cleverly used the opportunity to compete in off events, build her brand, and maybe demand further fees from her endorsements.

This whole thing has FRAUD written all over it in capital letters. If MJ did really mastermind this operation, I must say the elaborate idea and planning is an impressive con-job, though without a doubt criminal and immoral. He does seem like kind of an idiot though, so it is more likely the brains of this operation and the originator was likely Ackman or some investment crooks behind the scenes who planned the whole thing and just convinced MJ and used him for his name and recognition.

Membrane wrote:

Don't be like Mike wrote:

Michael Johnson could have left T&F with a legacy of four Olympic gold medals, eight World Championship gold medals, and world records at both 200m and 400m. Now he will be known for creating a terrible failure of a track league that will probably end up failing to pay its athletes.

Meanwhile, Alexis Ohanian, a man with zero track experience, created a meet that was not only successful enough to return the next year but is being expanded, first with field events and eventually a series of meets.

Johnson was in over his head from day 1 and lacks the knowledge of how to create a successful business.

Also, is American Track League still running this year? I believe they hosted four meets last year (Bahamas, Edwin Moses in Atlanta, Ed Murphey in Memphis, and Holloway in Gainesville). They only one that seems to be happening this year is Murphey and if you go to the website, there is no mention of ATL.

Your mistake is in not realizing what a lot of people have plainly suggested. You actually believe that GST was an unintentional failure? Of course it wasn't. Michael Johnson, Kyle Merber, and investor Bill Ackman pulled off a scam. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain from the moment GST was announced and the details and prize money were announced.

It was simple. "Let's have four meets in four prime locations and let's lure Olympic athletes by promising them $100,000 if they place best in a two-event double combo. Their agreement to participate automatically captures their sponsors who will want to advertise and pay us millions to run ads and display their logos. We also will get money from broadcasting services and other advertisers along with ticket sales. At the last minute we can use the excuse of low ratings or anything else to cancel the last meet and make up further excuses to not pay the athletes. "Civil Unrest in LA" gave these crooks another excuse even though it wouldn't have affected the meet at all and made no sense.

Now time will give these crooks the opportunity to conceal and embezzle as much revenue as possible, cook the accounting books, and file bankruptcy claiming they don't have the funds to pay the promised prize money. The whole thing is an obvious swindle. Why can't you see this? You are completely misinterpreting the events as Michael Johnson being in over his head and creating a catastrophic business failure, but the evidence points to this being a large con job.

As unlikeable as they may be, one must give credit where it is due to Sha 'Carri and Noah for not falling for what they clearly saw as a ruse from the get-go. I bet anything Sydney probably saw right through this sham but cleverly used the opportunity to compete in off events, build her brand, and maybe demand further fees from her endorsements.

This whole thing has FRAUD written all over it in capital letters. If MJ did really mastermind this operation, I must say the elaborate idea and planning is an impressive con-job, though without a doubt criminal and immoral. He does seem like kind of an idiot though, so it is more likely the brains of this operation and the originator was likely Ackman or some investment crooks behind the scenes who planned the whole thing and just convinced MJ and used him for his name and recognition.

High hopes wrote:

Salvitore Stitchmo wrote:

You know who doesn't hate Patrick Magyar? The old European track mafioso of agents and meet directors that basically control the sport - especially in terms of one-day meets, because he is one them. So if you ever want to start a track league, it's probably not a good idea to piss these guys off claiming you are going to "save track" (with the direct implication they've done the opposite) and bragging about how much more cash you are paying than they are.

Why exactly do people think Johnson had to hold his series at a terrible time of the year, couldn't hold a meet in a European venue and had almost no European athletes competing?

Being unable to get a European meet on the schedule was a massive unforced error for GST. It's the heart of the sport and would have helped generate buzz and momentum, the two things that GST lacked. The Alexandra Stadium in Birmingham is almost always available, it's a good size, and with a couple of additional Brits (Dina Asher Smith, KJT maybe in the short hurdles, Wightman) plus some Jamaicans, you'd almost guarantee a near-capacity crowd. And UKA is desperate for another high level meet. Add on some pre-meet races for domestic athletes and you've got a great event. Europe is full of good, 10-20,000 seat athletics stadiums so it's hard to see how they couldn't arrange one meet over here

McRunnin wrote:

GST tried. UK Athletics declined to host a meet due to financial concerns. From the article linked below:

The UKA’s chief executive, Jack Buckner, said its difficult financial situation meant it would be focusing on making the Diamond League in London profitable, as well as a potential bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships. “We’re positive about Michael Johnson’s format,” ” he said. “But three days of just track athletics is a lot of tickets to sell in the London Stadium and the cost base comes pretty high there. They did approach us and we had a really good discussion with them. We would like to have a bigger, more comprehensive events portfolio, but we want that built on strong foundations that are sustainable.”

In 2022, UKA lost £800,000 in one day when it hosted the Diamond League in Birmingham in 2022 and another £500,000 by staging the World Indoor tour in February 2023. Buckner said: “We don’t want to – gamble is too strong a word – but if you don’t get an event right and you don’t budget for it properly, it can lose a lot of money quickly, which is what happened historically.”

UKA will report on Wednesday that it lost £1.2m in the financial year up to March 2024.

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Link:www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/nov/12/...