More money problems for GST

With how poorly mismanaged GST’s finances have been and their very muted responses to overdue venue & athlete payments, it’s entirely plausible that they’re planning to use any investment money they are so desperately seeking for next season on paying back overdue bills. This reeks of a scam in the panic stage trying to cover their tracks with no foresight.

In true Fyre Festival fashion, they’re going to screw over a Caribbean island nation by hosting their event on the island and walking away without paying the bill

I don’t get why Grand Slam was so extravagant on expenses. I heard athletes talk about how nice they were treated in travel. It sounded like that could mean first class flights, nicer hotels, etc. That is just a dumb expense when trying to get a league off the ground.

They couldn't get a permit for GST at UCLA Drake from Hollywood regulators. Now we know why.

I’m not sure that’s correct. I know someone who works at UCLA and was involved in preparing and scheduling facilities for the event. I was told GST bailed out and somehow the contract didn’t require some sort of cancellation fee. There was a lot of work done by UCLA in preparation for the event and they didn’t get paid either.

FIFA has to use Los Angeles SAG, IATSE, SEIU, Craft, Teamsters, etc. Unions by L.A. County law and can't use it's own event employees unless they are carded locally at the World Cup 2026 at So Fi. Kronke has to run the event by L.A. County law and cannot rent SoFi stadium to outsiders like FIFA. UCLA has the same dilemma for events, unless it's a student event such as a festival, 4th of July party, etc.

I highly doubt “UCLA did a lot of work” they basically open the gate and tell you no constantly when you do an event there. They never clean up the venue, under the pole vault pit looks like something died under there. The long jump pits are a joke. No one should ever host a professional meet there.

You think so?

You think the league would get top talent if they were flying athletes coach, putting them up in motel 6?

They were getting a league off the ground yes, but a league designed to challenge the Diamond League.

A league that would somehow revolutionize track, yet without any real innovation - just paying more prize money and a couple gimmicks.

It’s almost like running fans knew it had no chance of being profitable…like we knew it would end up looking like a scam.

The meets were damned good.

Try like 1,000,000,000 people to join the WLA unions and you'll wait 20 years. even to forklift K-rails on location. It's impossible. My friend went to The Sorbonne in Paris and waited and waited for a decade never getting the call then quit and switched to nursing. Anderson Copper never got a Hollywood press card either to work in the business.

Sure. They exceeded expectations. But anyone with a brain knew that meets that track fans like wouldn’t be suddenly so profitable they could afford to pay athletes way more than anyone else. It’s track.

I've competed in a few Diamond Leagues. The travel budget they gave me never covered more than economy class. I have always had to share a room with another athlete. It's normally a 4 star hotel. You normally only get 2 nights accommodation.

Top athletes would still go under these conditions because those are standard at the highest level.

GST were flying all athletes first class and everyone got their own room. It was a three day meet, and athletes were getting there more than 1 day in advance, so you're looking at 4-5 nights accommodation. I would estimate travel and accommodation costs were 4-5 times higher per athlete than at a diamond league.

Grant Fisher not running the last meet starting to look more and more prescient. Why risk injury for Michael Johnson's ego?

I am pretty sure they stayed at the 5-star Four Seasons when they were in Philly.

fourseasons.com

Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia | Luxury Downtown Hotel

Soaring high above the city skyline, Four Seasons Philadelphia at Comcast center offers luxury accommodations with uninhibited views of the city and more.

Open link

All those types of things would need to be disclosed to future investors or it would be securities fraud. Which underscores why it will be so difficult to raise future investment. Who wants to put money into a severely damaged brand in an industry with no history of profitability just to make the prior stakeholders whole? Good luck with that.

yes, i have no knowledge of the ackman/gst deal, but i followed several ackman SPACs back in the day (the one that was supposed to merge with universal records and then PSTH which was—in my memory—supposed to be some supreme double SPAC.) He talked both up a ton, both flopped, but i’m sure they were written to ensure he made $$ regardless. All his comments afterward were always measured, reasonable, and took absolutely zero responsibility and never showed any memory of all his earlier hot air. I really dislike that man.

They didn’t have the top Jamaican sprinters signed, so obviously the crowd is not going to show.