HOW DID THEY SPEND ALL THEIR MONEY SO FAST??? WHAT DID THEY EVEN SPEND IT ON??
Well the first question is what the number constituting "all" really was - because as we now know, it wasn't 30 million. This number was the total of "verbal commitments".
But here are a few things I know/have been told
1) Ridiculous compensation (given the self-proclaimed "startup") for his operating board of top sports industry "executives" like Steve Gera, Rick Qualliotine, Teresa Palladino, Rina Thakker - all who came from the NFL, WWE etc and who knew absolutely nothing about track.
2) Business class flights to events even for non-USA based athletes. Even flying business/first domestically can be 2-3 times even a "comfort" ticket. Totally unnecessary.
3) 5 star hotels that needed to booked for at least a week to accommodate his stupid 3 day format, plus the "media requirements" of some athletes (basically all of the signed "racers") which meant they had to arrive on the Wednesday before the meets started (Friday) and stay until the following Monday. So you can see how the operations team etc would have to likely be there Tuesday to Tuesday to oversee athlete arrival/departure etc because there was no infrastructure of local volunteers to help.
4) And a huge one I was told was that food and beverages were basically "open" this entire time including alcohol. So probably not a big one when it came to the athletes but I'm sure it was a great gig if you were just mincing around as part of the crew.
It's easy to see how this becomes a total cluster-f. Johnson never had to worry about this stuff as an athlete - flying to Europe business class, staying in the best hotels, never opening his pocket ever. These clowns from the NFL/WWE are used to a culture of excess spending because the WWE alone is 15 billion dollar entity and god knows how big the NFL is. These were the last people you wanted controlling a "startup".
So if you only actually had 10 million dollars of your committed 30, that is going to evaporate insanely fast if this is your culture. This was just the classic corporate boondoggle - except there was no multi-million/billion dollar brand behind it. It's a damn shame man.
And again I say this as I did before…. If this is a journalism website why is there no investigative journalism being done about this? Show us the paper trails of where this money went. Where’s MJ hiding now? Hes been awfully quiet. Where’s Merber now? Also very quiet. Cowards the both of them.
It's disgusting that Merber is still working there and hasn't spoken out. He is still getting paid while the athletes and vendors aren't.
At this stage, it's 100% confirmed that Merber deserves a lot of blame for GST's failure. Not as much as MJ, but Merber certainly has been complicit.
I am still pissed that Merber told us this racing format would be exciting. Men's races slower the women's times. People running horrible way out of their event range. Grant Fisher didn't even try on the second day. WTF was Merber thinking?
I think MJ is hoping to avoid court where a deep investigation will take place. He wants this swept under the rug before the paper trail is discovered. I hope nobody accepts this and instead pursue litigation. MJ will be forced to disclose information that he desperately wants to remain hidden.
I doubt it. What seems more likely is they had a term sheet, told everyone that it was a done deal, and then 9 fans showed up to the first meet in Jamaica and the principal investor declined to move forward.
Actually this is fact.
Is it possible MJ wants to hide some shady sheet? Sure. Either way, at best it was pure incompetence
And kill any future of our sport going to something new back to the same old trash. Can't wait for women's only track league and World Cross that's not respected
And kill any future of our sport going to something new back to the same old trash. Can't wait for women's only track league and World Cross that's not respected
Cant imagine how you are looking at this while thinking "yes this is great. I want more of this!"
HOW DID THEY SPEND ALL THEIR MONEY SO FAST??? WHAT DID THEY EVEN SPEND IT ON??
Well the first question is what the number constituting "all" really was - because as we now know, it wasn't 30 million. This number was the total of "verbal commitments".
But here are a few things I know/have been told
1) Ridiculous compensation (given the self-proclaimed "startup") for his operating board of top sports industry "executives" like Steve Gera, Rick Qualliotine, Teresa Palladino, Rina Thakker - all who came from the NFL, WWE etc and who knew absolutely nothing about track.
2) Business class flights to events even for non-USA based athletes. Even flying business/first domestically can be 2-3 times even a "comfort" ticket. Totally unnecessary.
3) 5 star hotels that needed to booked for at least a week to accommodate his stupid 3 day format, plus the "media requirements" of some athletes (basically all of the signed "racers") which meant they had to arrive on the Wednesday before the meets started (Friday) and stay until the following Monday. So you can see how the operations team etc would have to likely be there Tuesday to Tuesday to oversee athlete arrival/departure etc because there was no infrastructure of local volunteers to help.
4) And a huge one I was told was that food and beverages were basically "open" this entire time including alcohol. So probably not a big one when it came to the athletes but I'm sure it was a great gig if you were just mincing around as part of the crew.
It's easy to see how this becomes a total cluster-f. Johnson never had to worry about this stuff as an athlete - flying to Europe business class, staying in the best hotels, never opening his pocket ever. These clowns from the NFL/WWE are used to a culture of excess spending because the WWE alone is 15 billion dollar entity and god knows how big the NFL is. These were the last people you wanted controlling a "startup".
So if you only actually had 10 million dollars of your committed 30, that is going to evaporate insanely fast if this is your culture. This was just the classic corporate boondoggle - except there was no multi-million/billion dollar brand behind it. It's a damn shame man.
Bislett games has been held every year since 1966. It is just now in 2025 that they expanded to a two day meet, despite a full stadium, lots of tv viewers etc. I dont know for how many decades the pre games party were held in the house and garden of the race director. Its insane to go full send from the start.
And kill any future of our sport going to something new back to the same old trash. Can't wait for women's only track league and World Cross that's not respected
The product itself, track and field will always be inherently boring to non-fans. MJ packaging it as a multi day and double meet did not change anything. In fact there's sizable criticism at doubling which is warranted imo. Most people arent interested to see athletes race their off event at the expense of a slower race at their primary event.
DL is doing great and their trajectory is bright. GST did not bring that X element (other than promised $) that actually excites us outside of the DL format.
Also from the article: GST has also told vendors that an outside party has expressed interest in acquiring the league and refinancing on a “free and clear basis,” clearing out the debt to allow for a fresh start next season. The Athletic has been told that this has gone no further than an expression of interest.
Why would anyone want to acquire Grand Slam? And what on earth would be left to acquire? I can't imagine that their brand is worth anything now.
Also from the article:GST has also told vendors that an outside party has expressed interest in acquiring the league and refinancing on a “free and clear basis,” clearing out the debt to allow for a fresh start next season. The Athletic has been told that this has gone no further than an expression of interest.
Why would anyone want to acquire Grand Slam? And what on earth would be left to acquire? I can't imagine that their brand is worth anything now.
Yeah, GST also told investors, vendors, and athletes that they had $30 million.
I think MJ is hoping to avoid court where a deep investigation will take place. He wants this swept under the rug before the paper trail is discovered. I hope nobody accepts this and instead pursue litigation. MJ will be forced to disclose information that he desperately wants to remain hidden.
What kind of paper trail are you expecting? I think the previous reporting from this writer in the Athletic has uncovered what happened. There just never was nearly enough money to begin with. Grand Slam was promising money they never had to athletes and vendors, and were able to take advantage of the fact that the athletes and vendors are accustomed to not being paid immediately so Grand Slam was able to stage three meets before that issue caught of with them.
The paper trail of expenditures both MJ and his crew accrued when spending the money on personal extravagant purchases and telling the top athletes to not worry about spending money before and during the meets like first class tickets, top hotel rooms and flying their families over on first class as well. As well as getting them top seats at the Super Bowl. Oh yeah- there’s a paper trail!
It's disgusting that Merber is still working there and hasn't spoken out. He is still getting paid while the athletes and vendors aren't.
At this stage, it's 100% confirmed that Merber deserves a lot of blame for GST's failure. Not as much as MJ, but Merber certainly has been complicit.
I am still pissed that Merber told us this racing format would be exciting. Men's races slower the women's times. People running horrible way out of their event range. Grant Fisher didn't even try on the second day. WTF was Merber thinking?
He didn’t have anything to do with the financing of the venture, probably not for budgeting payments to the athletes or travel expenses. What do you expect him to say? The meet format is not what caused the failure of GST.
I don't understsnd this as a strategy. Even if all vendors accept 50% of fees owed, GST's reputation is shredded for any future potential initiatives.
It just underlines that GST is stuck between a rock and a hard place. If vendors accept 50% of what they're owed, GST will have erased a good chunk of its debt but the vendors will be pissed. Most of them probably won't want to work with GST in '26 or would insist on receiving funds up front.
The problem is, paying off their vendors in full looks to be close to impossible. To do that, you'd have to require investors to come on board who would be willing to put in $10 million to clear a bunch of debt from 2025 just for the right to fund GST's 2026 season. Who is going to want to do that?
And even if GST pays off its vendors in full, their reputation and credibility has already taken a massive hit and vendors/athletes are going to be skeptical about working with them moving forward.
Especially considering for $10M you can start your own league.
The paper trail of expenditures both MJ and his crew accrued when spending the money on personal extravagant purchases and telling the top athletes to not worry about spending money before and during the meets like first class tickets, top hotel rooms and flying their families over on first class as well. As well as getting them top seats at the Super Bowl. Oh yeah- there’s a paper trail!
As someone who is involved in golf media professionally, I wish so, so much that the Saudis weren't propping up LIV Golf indefinitely so that it could have suffered a similar fate to GST.
Easy to forget that is the expected outcome when you start a business that promises the moon but ultimately delivers very little, AND you don't have a bottomless sovereign wealth fund backing your venture.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
And kill any future of our sport going to something new back to the same old trash. Can't wait for women's only track league and World Cross that's not respected
Cant imagine how you are looking at this while thinking "yes this is great. I want more of this!"
Seeing my favorite athletes twice a weekend rather than maybe seeing them in a diamond league. Yeah that sounds SO bad
It's disgusting that Merber is still working there and hasn't spoken out. He is still getting paid while the athletes and vendors aren't.
At this stage, it's 100% confirmed that Merber deserves a lot of blame for GST's failure. Not as much as MJ, but Merber certainly has been complicit.
I am still pissed that Merber told us this racing format would be exciting. Men's races slower the women's times. People running horrible way out of their event range. Grant Fisher didn't even try on the second day. WTF was Merber thinking?
Does he still work there? Is he getting paid?
"It's 100% confirmed that Merber deserves a lot of blame for GST's failure."
Okay pump the brakes. Let's get real here about Merbers role in all of this. He was basically in "charge" (to some degree) of assembling fields and signing athletes. That's it.
He didn't decide the format, he was basically given numbers (that he had no way of knowing the validity of) and told to get fields - and he did. But GST's issue wasn't it's quality of talent - it was what they forced their talent to do, how they marketed it (they talked a massive game but did f-all in that respect) and how they blew money on unimportant things.
Look full transparency - I don't even know Kyle Merber and hence have zero reason to defend him, but I struggle to see how deserves any blame for this at all. It's not like Johnson went to him and said "you've got an athlete budget of 200k" and he spent 4 million. Kyle Merber didn't decide on the crazy prize structure and even more idiotic format that translated into insane operating costs. Whatever his compensation was wasn't anywhere near what the "executive board" and that lineup of shisters bled out of the coffers.
This post was edited 5 minutes after it was posted.