It’s also bizarre how he is making this promise that the 2026 season won’t happen until athletes are paid like there was any chance that it was going to occur while still owing millions of dollars for the previous season. Also The “circumstances outside our control” was him not entering a binding agreement for his funding. Yes, it sucks that someone pulled out, but securing funding properly was very much within his control and he just went off a term sheet and verbal agreement.
It’s also bizarre how he is making this promise that the 2026 season won’t happen until athletes are paid like there was any chance that it was going to occur while still owing millions of dollars for the previous season. Also The “circumstances outside our control” was him not entering a binding agreement for his funding. Yes, it sucks that someone pulled out, but securing funding properly was very much within his control and he just went off a term sheet and verbal agreement.
We have no details on the agreement he made with the people who said they would fund the $$. Maybe it was binding. Trouble is a billionaire like Ackman can stiff you and then if you sue him he can bury you in legal costs
And she went to jail for fraud. It will be interesting to see what happens with Michael Johnson, who signed a bunch of contracts based on claiming to have money he didn't actually have.
watching Rae's Take, he insinuated that the 30m pledge from whoever was contingent on GST first raising something like 10 million dollars, or some other mystery number, from other sources. They didn't raise anything, so the 30 didn't happen.
Does he have any evidence for this? The official story is that $39 million was pledged, with $30 million from Ackman. I am pretty sure GST raised some money. Didn't they pay the three sites where the meets were held? The vendors?
He kept using the number $10 million, and then saying ALLEGEDLY. He's kind of tough to follow, and there's no way im going back to re-watch! I think he just posted the video this week though.
There's a lot to be upset about, but if I understand the timing right what I'm most upset about is that he went through with the meets in Miami and Philadelphia, when it sounds like after Kingston he already knew they didn't have the money. He should have pulled the plug after Kingston, so all those runners could have gone and raced in meets that would actually pay them and give them a chance to qualify for meets like the Diamond League final and the World Champs.
Seems odd to put the line “that is success to me.” before getting into the lack of payment. A successful meet includes compensation…
anyway, it truly seems Johnson—and by that, I mean, his legal folks and other advisors—somehow made a massive error and mistook the promise of funding for actual money. Okay, maybe MJ didn’t read the fine details, but the legal team either messed up bad, or understood it perfectly well and kept it from him (doubtful), or MJ knew the whole time that this was on shaky ground. Regardless, it’s on MJ.
How are they going to make sure this never happens again? Surely that starts with a new legal team and set of advisors right
Agreed. "That is success to me" doesn't pay bills or get back the money elite athletes would have gotten from the DL.
An athlete like SML won't hurt much by no being compensated. She probably is the highest paid track athlete at the current time, when endorsement monies are also considered. She also probably has the most money socked away. It's the ones that don't have the endorsement deals that she has and aren't getting the same appearance fees that are going to be hosed. This sucks but is not surprising.
A big reason why a thriving professional track circuit won’t make it in America is because of how are cities are designed. I’ve said this before. Track is never going to get the same kind of time, energy, and financial investment from fans that our big sports get. It’s just not that kind of entertainment. No one is going to drive an hour, pay for parking, and pay for tickets and concessions all just to sit for a tours at a laid back meet. They will do that for a baseball or football game. We did this to ourselves. Track works in Europe because the barrier to going to a meet with friends is so much lower than here. America also has a much more isolated culture. Less out and about, less spontaneous, hey let’s go see a track meet tomorrow. We’ve built our cities such that doing anything is a significant investment and requires planning and coordination. How are six friends here going to see a track meet together and then bar/cafe hop afterward? They’ll all have to drive from various areas and park and do that for each place they want to go. It sucks.
If they don't pay the athletes there won't be a 2026 season? No $hi+ Sherlock. Back when MJ was lying about financial problems it was accurately being said that 2026 season is not happening. There won't be new investors because anyone with enough money to clean this up isn't that stupid to invest in a ship already sunk and resting on the bottom.
