Grand Slam Track is out of touch with who track fans are

The _only_ thing GST is good for is forcing the Diamond League to increase their prize pool.

May it have a silent journey into oblivion.

cheers!

yeah i have a bunch of mates in PE.

the genuinely smart ones who haven't drunk the kool aid admit it's a cancer on the economy.

also - the depressing thing is how some of the most talented ppl get sucked into PE.

i did engineering at a top school in my country and so many of our finest minds are literally just wasted figuring out how to be leeches on actual productivity

thanks yeah great insight hadn't thought of any of that

This is an excellent point. There is no "new audience" of untapped track & field fans. There are only track and field fans who can't be bothered to go to or even watch the existing meets.

If organizers can't get my friends and family to watch a meet like Pre, you sure as hell aren't going to get random millennials and gen-z kids to watch a three day meet with only 8 events.

If a one-day meet in Portland, Eugene, or Seattle with Sifan Hassan or Cole Hocker doesn't get us off our butts and into the stadium, why would we want to go to a three day version of the same thing?

The reason we aren't going to all the meets is that they are often too long (5 hours?) and recent meets at Hayward are just too spendy if you are trying to take the family ($72 a ticket to watch one race I really care about and 10 I don't care about as much).

One better solution is to have distance festivals with a mass-participation event tied to the "real races." This is the way most triathlons do it. The elite race and the people's race are not really the same thing, but 8000 people show up with their families because dad or mom is in the event as well.

I don't think this is going to work as well with sprinting but I do think that sprint fans could have their own "sprint night" meets. They could not care less about the 10,000m and steeple and the 5000m and so on. Why do we torture them by making them watch us "jog around" for a million laps? Shouldn't there be sprint meets that focus on sprinters and sprint fans? That would be great for them (and I wouldn't have to go).

I'd rather see a new format where teams compete. Teams are why major sports are so popular, people want to cheer for teams. Sign up athletes to compete as teams rather than just signing up a few superstars. Of course get superstars in the teams too. Have short 3 hour track meets on a single evening like people are used to when they go to a professional sports game. Have every one on each team be sponsored so they are all getting money to participate and compete in the series, and have top three in each event get cash prizes, and all the members of the winning team in each meet get a cash prize.

With teams you can actually see who is who based on which team singlet they are wearing. One problem with watching T&F is unless you are a diehard fan you have to be told who everyone is and even then it's hard to tell who is who during races. If people are competing in team gear it gets rid of all that confusion. At a baseball game you don't need to know who all the athletes on the team are, you just pick which team to support and maybe if you are just a casual fan maybe you just know a couple of the superstars. Have the teams be based out of a city/region so people will want to cheer for their local team or whichever team they like the best. Have team logos/mascot/jerseys for sale/all that stuff. Have the meets be exciting and short, not spread out over days, not forcing people to run more than one event (plenty of people are specialists in a single event). At the end of the night award the winning team. Have it be promoted as a special event in whatever city they are taking place in, a cool saturday evening event for people to go out to, where you get to support your team, watch some of the best T&F athletes in the country/world, a contained fun action packed experience. And at the start introduce all the members of each team so people know who they are.

That sounds much better than whatever MJ is coming up with.

You are right about the idea of teams for sure. That is why everyone cares about Team USA. We don't even usually care about gymnastics or swimming but in the Olympic year, we all go nuts for the medal count. People who aren't even runners are watching running because we understand that the athletes are representing us.

give it a chance

Well let's play a game - it's called "how cynical can we be about the intentions of "Grand Slam Track"...

Michael Johnson has used his name and stature in the sport to convince a bunch of investors that are clueless about the sport that he does know the sport and has a "revolutionary and innovative concept" full of "storytelling" and "rivalries" (catchphrases that dumbf--k PE firms and investors get nice and hard whenever they hear them), that will change the sport for ever and give them a fantastic return on their investment. In reality, Michael Johnson's fragile ego needed to be back in the spotlight and make some money which is exactly what will happen, even if GST only lasts a season or two.

Let me be clear - that is not exactly what I think the situation is, but it's certainly not completely implausible.

We need guys like MJ to save T&F in the US. The failures of USATF and Nike and the inability to replace Max Siegel, Mike Reilly, etc. has ruined T&F in the USA as a living. I wish Grand Slam, Athlos, Sound Running, and American Track League the best.

I agree!

The concept of GST is awesome, and I think it can be successful. Yes, the Michael Johnson intro is a bit much. I think the message they're trying to send is that MJ has the credentials and the reputation to make this work. MJ doesn't need to force his image on anyone, he doesn't need to sell anyone on how great he was and what he accomplished. I'd rather see a Seb Coe type of approach, where he leads by example without pushing his accomplishments and the need to validate himself. If MJ surrounds himself with quality people, both young and old, who know the sport I think the GST could be successful, especially leading into L.A. '28.

Unfortunately, you're not "playing a game", and in fact are being cynical about GST. You have to acknowledge that MJ does know the sport and has been actively involved for many years. He brings a ton of international experience not only as former athlete but as a broadcast commentator for Sky Sports in the U.K. He's forged many relationships over the years with many successful athletes and wealthy people both here in the U.S. and abroad. As a lifelong athletics fan, former athlete, and coach, I want to see the GST be successful and will support it anyway I can, and not just sit back a criticize it and the people who are actually stepping up and trying to make a difference. Nothing wrong with "getting paid" for the work being done, but it can't be the priority at the expense of the true meaning behind its creation, to create a true competition amongst the world's best track athletes.

It's not looking good for Grand Slam Track. The product they have pitched doesn't even interest me, a die hard track fan.

Having teams isn't going to turn track into a big sport either. It's not like NCAA track is on the same level of NCAA basketball just because NCAA track is a team sport. Who really cares who wins the team title at NCAA track other than the coaches and school admin?

If I were in charge of Grand Slam Track, the track would be 200m long, could be competed indoors or as a temporary setup in other sports stadiums or parks. Athletes from other sports would be invited to compete in the 60m. There would be a fan participation section of the 60m in the pre-meet", with the fastest "open" runner getting to compete in the final for the meet.

None of this multi-day multi-event silo madness. One two-hour meet, with an open or age-group 60m beforehand. Local junior 4x200m or 4x400m in every meet. The pole vault and weight throw would also be competed to keep the fans entertained between running events.