Athlos announced a few big items today. One is that it is bringing Sha'Carri Richardson, Gabby Thomas, and Tara Davis-Woodhall as owners. (Though they said this doesn't necessarily mean Sha'Carri will run at this year's Athlos meet on October 10).
The other is that, starting in 2026, Athlos will move to a team-based model with "multiple meets hosted in major cities, culminating in a final championship event." They said the series will be held after the conclusion of the World Athletics season.
Citius Mag said it will remain women's-only.
My thoughts:
-I'm not convinced the team model accomplishes anything. I can't imagine the Athlos season is going to be very long (I'd be shocked if it's more than four meets) and we've already seen that it's difficult to get anyone to care about pro track "teams" like this (remember TrackTown Summer Series?).
-How much interest is there going to be in a women's-only track league in late-September/October? Moving forward, the World Athletics season is going to be ending in mid-September (2026 Ultimate Champs end on September 13; 2027 Worlds end September 19).
-The good news for Athlos is that they won't be competing against anyone for talent since there aren't going to be other major meets on the calendar. But you're going to have a lot of tired athletes at the end of a long season.
I will say, I liked the first Athlos event and it definitely felt big-time with glitzy lighting, trackside VIPs, a red carpet, and a number of major track stars. So I'm guessing the plan here is to try to replicate that feel with a few more meets spread across the country. It could be kind of like in gymnastics or ice skating where the top athletes go on victory tours around the country after the Olympics.
I'll be interested to see which cities Athlos goes to. I think they need to consider all venues, not just 400m tracks. I was talking recently with the LRC braintrust about why no one has tried to stage a big track event in Vegas. Go there and have Sha'Carri and Gabby Thomas race each other in a 150 down the Strip, and support it with a few more events. That might be expensive to stage but you could also hype the crap out of it.
The problem I see is this: the only way to motivate athletes to keep running that late into the season after Worlds is to offer a ton of appearance/prize money. Maybe Athlos can afford to do that for a year or two but I question whether there is going to be enough interest to sustain it long-term. Athlos keeps touting the "3 million viewers" number for its 2024 event but I'm very skeptical of how they arrived at that number.
I don't want to come across like I'm trying to tear down the league. Just like Grand Slam Track, it is a GOOD thing that people are making investments in professional track & field. But I'm also a realist -- it is hard to make money in this sport.
What does everyone else think?
There are details on the Athlos website here:
