Not because they expect a profit but just because they're a rich track fan who wants to see great meets? Rich people blow money on entertainment all the time.
That's exactly why Hayward is the best track facility in US, but in a tough to get to spot like Eugene.
A wealthy fan built it.
We've said on the podcast for a while, someone needs to get in Phil Knight's ear and try and have him leave some endowment for professional track and field.
$1 billion and the sport might be good. $100 million and some US group is living large.
We've said on the podcast for a while, someone needs to get in Phil Knight's ear and try and have him leave some endowment for professional track and field.
$1 billion and the sport might be good. $100 million and some US group is living large.
T&F doesn’t need to be saved. It’s always going to be a niche sport. That billion would be much better spent on a countless number things.
That's exactly why Hayward is the best track facility in US, but in a tough to get to spot like Eugene.
A wealthy fan built it.
We've said on the podcast for a while, someone needs to get in Phil Knight's ear and try and have him leave some endowment for professional track and field.
$1 billion and the sport might be good. $100 million and some US group is living large.
A billion would be gone faster than you can say Hillary Clinton.
Not because they expect a profit but just because they're a rich track fan who wants to see great meets? Rich people blow money on entertainment all the time.
Why would anyone waster their money on a lost cause? GST did nothing for track to make it more interesting.
Unfortunately the concepts of Noblesse Oblige and Euergetism have long since disappeared. Now it only exists if the benefactor can get a hospital wing or university building named after them. Schools and libraries no longer make the grade so what chance do sports and leisure have?
because if you buy GST you buy the debts too, which would have to be paid before anyone would do season 2. and then you'd own a wounded brand that NBC may not want to work with again, or the runners. yay i won the booby prize.
you'd be better off starting from scratch with your own brand as you'd save yourself GST's debt.
also, unlike USFL or NASL, the league didn't last enough to earn any popular cachet despite its failure. people might revive those type leagues, or say the new york cosmos, because the old brand has appeal. GST lasted 5 seconds, was interesting but not popular, and for 99% of people wouldn't register.
since it made no dent in the popular zeitgeist, racked up debts, etc., you start over with a new thing.
it took MLS soccer decades to be profitable. many US businesses live a while technically not making a buck. i don't think the US grand prix meets were profitable. chunks of DL aren't profitable. and yet they happen. that's not the hurdle. it's can you mix capital and borrowing to keep it going.
i don't think people get it, that GST was soooooo broke they probably couldn't afford their air time or paying the runners or the prizes or the track rental, on and on. like they couldn't even get it close enough some capital firm or bank wouldn't loan them the rest.
Not because they expect a profit but just because they're a rich track fan who wants to see great meets? Rich people blow money on entertainment all the time.
Were they great meets? I'm all for slower, tactical distance races but to call the GST 3k/5ks anything but sandbagging for paychecks is dishonest at best (I don't blame the athletes for this - the mandatory distance doubles was a stupid idea). Fact is that pretty much all of the Diamond League meets were better this year than any of the GST.
Not because they expect a profit but just because they're a rich track fan who wants to see great meets? Rich people blow money on entertainment all the time.
It's a lot of money, even for someone rich, and there are undoubtedly "better" ways to spend the money (if you are a track super-fan, then funding a bunch of scholarships or sponsoring a lot of athletes would go pretty far). If I had tens of millions sloshing around, I'd at least want to be confident that I'm not throwing everything into a bottomless pit and that the whole thing was run by people who knew what they were doing.
And lots of people could come up with better formats. In fact, almost everybody could have designed this better. GST made the diamond league look sensational.
Lots of LetsRunners believe that they could come up with a format they think is better, but in decades of this kind of fantasy talk basically two people have actually done anything, Michael Johnson and Alexis Ohanian.
A whole lot of do-nothing types with a lot to say about someone who made a (failed) attempt.
Just thought of this too - any "rich" fans would have been going to the LA meet. Johnson showed he horribly mismanages funds and can't be trusted. I think the number one thing a major investor would want would be Johnson to step down. Maybe he could have a role doing promotion only - but no investor would want him touching the finances again. That brought GST to ruin.
This is a good point.
Johnson could make himself (or he could be made to be) the 'Chief Track Officer' with a role in designing the series etc.
But like many businesses the founder with passion and knowledge related to the actual product should not in a CEO or CFO.
I think a pivot in his role is the only way GST survives. If I had $30M, I would insist on that. (But like most keyboard warriors here, I couldn't raise $1M for a track event, let alone $30M.)
Quite honestly, the agents should be paying the athletes their money that is owed. That’s their job to secure the bag and make sure their athletes get paid. Thats why they get such a large percentage of the contracts/prize money.
the agent should pay the athlete and then the agent can chase around GST to be reimbursed.
This feels correct, but isn't.
Yes, the agents identify the event and make contracts. So their income should engage with the risk they place their athletes in with a bum contract that doesn't pay out. (Runners are no doubt telling their agents 'You should have got me into early DL meets, not this crackpot scheme.')
But they way it works is the agents take a cut, i.e. they don't get paid if they athlete doesn't. Which feels somewhat fair, except when you consider that agents have a massive hedge in the dozens of athletes making money through various other sources while some athletes were exclusive to GST.