T/F is really only 'popular' during the Olympics.
This thread was started about an emergency meeting being called by Michael Johnson with the contracted racers of Grand Slam Track today.
Matt Lawton of the Times of London then reported on the emergency meeting being called here (story updated to reflect the LA meet has been cancelled)
And Front Office Sports was the first to report The Grand Slam Track LA meet has been cancelled. Story here.
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I Cannot wrote:
I don't know what was in their contracts but I'm pretty sure there was no clause that said they can cancel whenever they want, for any reason, without recourse.
Why would you assume there was no clause like that? I would be shocked if the contracts don't have some language to the effect of "If natural disasters, business circumstances, etc., force cancellation of a meet, athletes will not be paid for that meet." I didn't hear any threats of a lawsuit for the last meet when the 3k/5k group payout was cut in half. And I don't expect you'll see any lawsuits from the athletes now. Yes, it sucks for them, but they're still able to go out and run other races.
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thatsus wrote:
That's good to hear. We have tickets for all three days- family of three. We also have an AirBnB that's too late to cancel without a big penalty. Now it's a long weekend in LA for nothing. This was a real gut punch.
Go watch Tyreek Hill's 100m.
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Pelican86 wrote:
I Cannot wrote:
I don't know what was in their contracts but I'm pretty sure there was no clause that said they can cancel whenever they want, for any reason, without recourse.
You must not be in law, or in business.
It would be idiotic for a first-time enterprise not to have such a clause.
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Badcompany wrote:
ideas man wrote:
Fairly stupid post there.
Many thousands of people went and watched pro track at the three meets that happened; thousands more than would have gone to a track meet in Kingston, Miami, and Philly without GST.
OK, so this model couldn't make enough money to succeed in the uncreative pablum world of TV sports. (What a mentally impoverished definition of success.)
That does NOT meet that professional track isn't doing as well as it has for decades.
So, if you think a pro league is viable , start your own.
Now that is a truly idiotic post.
Your logic is...laughable.
No. I don't have $30M, nor the network to bring that together. Just like you don't have $30M for...anything.
What tf does that have to do with the stupid assertion that "pro track is dead in the water"? Just because YOU can't afford to build a tower doesn't mean that real estate is dead, dummy.
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
Also, I literally watched a pro track meet on TV today.
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Hal1983 wrote:
If you're looking forward to next year, you hold the LA meet while cutting costs as much as possible and regroup in the offseason. Cancelling entirely means they're not worried about relationships for next year.
This is a bummer, but I'd like to know more about what's happening behind the scenes. I assume Grand Slam expected to lose money in year one — how bad were the financials/fan engagement details that investors don't see any hope going forward and figure they're better off cutting their losses?
I'm getting caught up.
That's what I'd do. Start giving away tickets. Make sure it's full.
Good visuals & no bad blood and you can go to year 2. That's why I'm fearful of the worst.141 -
good company wrote:
Badcompany wrote:
The ultimate irony is that today was the first day of open registration for NYRR Fall Races and the site went down due to high volume.
VERY stupid post.
Tens of thousands of people will be bowling tonight in America.
How many of them have spent one dollar to watch professional bowling in person.???
Jogging a 10k in Central Park or bowling a 150 have essentially nothing to do with the professional side of the sport.
Track isn't unique in this regard.
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westsouthrunner wrote:
Mondo Hondo wrote:
^^^^^
This. I'll never understand what makes track fans, or at least the ones on this board, the most cynical, complaining fans of any sport. People here find a way to hate everything that happens, and take glee in any failure. Weird.
Right. Keep complaining and hating we won't have anything.
And just to stay on this mindset. Just this past weekend two former NBA players played one on one to 30 for $100k. It was a $20 pay per view put on by basketball niche YouTubers. The players were only playing for 100K on the front end. They were even getting paid on the back end The players were only playing 400k on the front end. They are even getting paid on the back end.
Difference with basketball sports community is everyone supports the culture and the scene and in our scene we just complain and tear stuff down. And you could almost directly compare this venture to Grand slam since they're both brand new.
How does our sport have the highest participation levels at the highschool level and basically the complete opposite at the professional level?
And they had support from everywhere , Jeff league, Kyrie, adin Ross, Carmelo Anthony, etc all showed support. Same goes for commenters I see everywhere on Facebook and YouTube.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.13 -
So 2 out of the 3 biggest investments in track and field in the last few years have produced nothing. MTSAC track and grand slam track
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GST just released its official announcement:
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“Dedicated to transparency” while making a statement that says absolutely nothing as to why LA GST was cancelled.
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Video from Michael Johnson:
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shizzy wrote:
I'm sad for the some of the folks that are a little too gleeful about the demise of GST.
Its failure is not just a condemnation of MJ or Merber (who so many of you have spent years wrongfully clowning on) but it's a condemnation that track will never succeed as a serious sport in the US. This model was so close to something real and meaningful outside of Eugene that got butts in seats. It was holding a Tuesday afternoon time trail at some high school. It was the real deal.
This model won't be tried again. We won't see major track and field on the East Coast again anytime soon outside of Penn. We'll all be stuck schlepping to Eugene for the 18th time in 5 years to see anything worth a damn. Sad state of affairs. A less less serious sport by the day.
1) We don't know this is over yet.
2) Alexis Ohanian is still going with his league. If people they can make money they will try again. And the fact he is still going makes me want to have Bill Ackman throw in some more money for GST. Entitiees that succeed can lose a ton of money at the beginning.
3) I've seen one negative post about Merber. Most people like him.
Salvitore Stitchmo wrote:
Cash wasn't the major problem, it was THE problem.
3) It clearly created a false sense of entitlement within the day to day organization all as some of the rumors I had heard about the travel, accommodation, hospitality etc were of extreme extravagance.
In an extreme sense, this was figuratively like handing a briefcase of 100k to a homeless person and expecting them to invest it and use it to turn their life around. It's so much money they didn't know what to do with it and the spending was so exorbitant that by the time they realized it was close to being all gone, it was too late.
I don't get wasting money on first class travel etc. First class travel for everyone or would you rather have Sha'Carri at one of your meets?
But certain things, spending money on production, PR, etc were good ideas. The DL could learn something. They should have done a lot more to get people in the seats even if that meant giving them away. The only problem is it still might not fill up.32 -
Darn. I had just gotten hooked. Was part of why I renewed Peacock when I had previously cancelled it.
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CO Coach wrote:
GST seemed doomed from the beginning, for the simple reason that Johnson had no long term plan for carrying the league for the many years it would take to be self sustaining. This was nothing more than a cash grab by Johnson. There are lots of examples of failed sports leagues in the US, a real business plan would have baked in at least 5 years of loss if there was intention to keep GST track going. It likely would have taken over a decade before GST was profitable. By most accounts it took MLS over 20 years to become profitable, and that's probably the most successful example of creating a sports league in the US ever.
I think this is good analysis. Most startup sports leagues are expected to lose money for many years. This thing was operating like it was expecting a quick profit which doesn't make sense.
Here\'s an idea... wrote:
After Phili, it really looks like the best place to hold a big meet in the US is at a university campus. You've got a smaller-scale infrastructure than a big city so people can get there on foot, bike, or public transport, less need for parking, and plenty of people looking for something to do. I live in Europe and have been to World XC champs in Belfast, Brussels, and Avenches, and professional track meets in Lausanne, Luzerne and Monaco. The only event that didn't have a packed stadium/spectator area was actually Monaco. Beautiful location, but the locals aren't interested and have better things to do like ride around on the yachts and gamble, and it's not a very attractive vacation destination due to how expensive it is and it's kinda complicated to get to. Brussels was a big city but so easy to get around by bus/tram.
UCLA was the site for meet #4 and just cancelled.
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Digital Man wrote:
hcbingo44 wrote:
I have seen a bunch of Michael Johnson interviews over the years and the guy is about as exciting to listen to as a ham sandwich (I challenge any of you to share a link to an entertaining Michael Johnson interview)
Working for him is probably a pain
Not surprised Grand Slam Track is dead in the water (who the hell uses a tennis term for a track event)
As a track fan, I will be sad that there will be one less track meet to watch this summer
Pretty good point buried in here. The name of this project probably implicates a number of protected trademarks. Violating those can be costly.
Michael was great on our podcast last year.bloviating wrote:
So I guess it was only a triple crown.
If it doesn't come back I will refer to it as the "Triple Crown Track League"
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wejo wrote:
CO Coach wrote:
GST seemed doomed from the beginning, for the simple reason that Johnson had no long term plan for carrying the league for the many years it would take to be self sustaining. This was nothing more than a cash grab by Johnson. There are lots of examples of failed sports leagues in the US, a real business plan would have baked in at least 5 years of loss if there was intention to keep GST track going. It likely would have taken over a decade before GST was profitable. By most accounts it took MLS over 20 years to become profitable, and that's probably the most successful example of creating a sports league in the US ever.
I think this is good analysis. Most startup sports leagues are expected to lose money for many years. This thing was operating like it was expecting a quick profit which doesn't make sense.
Here\'s an idea... wrote:
After Phili, it really looks like the best place to hold a big meet in the US is at a university campus. You've got a smaller-scale infrastructure than a big city so people can get there on foot, bike, or public transport, less need for parking, and plenty of people looking for something to do. I live in Europe and have been to World XC champs in Belfast, Brussels, and Avenches, and professional track meets in Lausanne, Luzerne and Monaco. The only event that didn't have a packed stadium/spectator area was actually Monaco. Beautiful location, but the locals aren't interested and have better things to do like ride around on the yachts and gamble, and it's not a very attractive vacation destination due to how expensive it is and it's kinda complicated to get to. Brussels was a big city but so easy to get around by bus/tram.
UCLA was the site for meet #4 and just cancelled.
Wejo you're right! Who could have forgotten the The Tour De Trump cycling race in the early 90's ummmm how did that go. Start up anything is a challenge no matter what amount of money you throw at it.
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Pelican86 wrote:
I Cannot wrote:
I don't know what was in their contracts but I'm pretty sure there was no clause that said they can cancel whenever they want, for any reason, without recourse.
Why would you assume there was no clause like that? I would be shocked if the contracts don't have some language to the effect of "If natural disasters, business circumstances, etc., force cancellation of a meet, athletes will not be paid for that meet." I didn't hear any threats of a lawsuit for the last meet when the 3k/5k group payout was cut in half. And I don't expect you'll see any lawsuits from the athletes now. Yes, it sucks for them, but they're still able to go out and run other races.
I'm not saying this is the case, but if they don't have the money you can sue them but they just file for bankruptcy. Sorry ballgame over, you're not getting anything.
For their to be year #2, they will need to pay year #1. Would be interesting to see reaction if they say "hey to get to year #2, we're going to need to pay half of what you're owed" and see the reaction.00 -
ideas man wrote:
good company wrote:
VERY stupid post.
Tens of thousands of people will be bowling tonight in America.
How many of them have spent one dollar to watch professional bowling in person.???
Jogging a 10k in Central Park or bowling a 150 have essentially nothing to do with the professional side of the sport.
Track isn't unique in this regard.
Wow, so many butt hurt losers in this thread upset that their sport is not popular. No one cares about pro track and field. The athletes don’t put eyes in front of the screen or asses in seats. It’s not a real professional sport. Sorry.
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"Grand slam" started as a bridge term and was widely used in baseball and golf before it became a term in tennis (and lots of other sports).
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