What’s the rationale for making the offer of 50% payments to vendors being contingent on *all* vendors accepting? It makes it look like they want some vendors to decline so that when, ultimately, they end up defaulting on all the debts they owe they’ll be able to say they offered partial payment and were rebuffed.
"It's 100% confirmed that Merber deserves a lot of blame for GST's failure."
Okay pump the brakes. Let's get real here about Merbers role in all of this. He was basically in "charge" (to some degree) of assembling fields and signing athletes. That's it.
He didn't decide the format, he was basically given numbers (that he had no way of knowing the validity of) and told to get fields - and he did. But GST's issue wasn't it's quality of talent - it was what they forced their talent to do, how they marketed it (they talked a massive game but did f-all in that respect) and how they blew money on unimportant things.
Look full transparency - I don't even know Kyle Merber and hence have zero reason to defend him, but I struggle to see how deserves any blame for this at all. It's not like Johnson went to him and said "you've got an athlete budget of 200k" and he spent 4 million. Kyle Merber didn't decide on the crazy prize structure and even more idiotic format that translated into insane operating costs. Whatever his compensation was wasn't anywhere near what the "executive board" and that lineup of shisters bled out of the coffers.
If you’re so convinced he wasn’t in on the scam, then why is he not speaking, not being transparent and has gone into hiding like the rest of these scammy grifters?
And again I say this as I did before…. If this is a journalism website why is there no investigative journalism being done about this? Show us the paper trails of where this money went. Where’s MJ hiding now? Hes been awfully quiet. Where’s Merber now? Also very quiet. Cowards the both of them.
Cowards? What are you talking about? Your a nation of sociopaths ruled by love of money. He's defending himself the way you would do. Or are you going to lie to me and tell me that you are one of those people who always tells the truth and does the right thing?
America is the pinnacle of Social Darwinism. And money is what decides godliness or not.
It's disgusting that Merber is still working there and hasn't spoken out. He is still getting paid while the athletes and vendors aren't.
At this stage, it's 100% confirmed that Merber deserves a lot of blame for GST's failure. Not as much as MJ, but Merber certainly has been complicit.
I am still pissed that Merber told us this racing format would be exciting. Men's races slower the women's times. People running horrible way out of their event range. Grant Fisher didn't even try on the second day. WTF was Merber thinking?
Does he still work there? Is he getting paid?
"It's 100% confirmed that Merber deserves a lot of blame for GST's failure."
Okay pump the brakes. Let's get real here about Merbers role in all of this. He was basically in "charge" (to some degree) of assembling fields and signing athletes. That's it.
He didn't decide the format, he was basically given numbers (that he had no way of knowing the validity of) and told to get fields - and he did. But GST's issue wasn't it's quality of talent - it was what they forced their talent to do, how they marketed it (they talked a massive game but did f-all in that respect) and how they blew money on unimportant things.
Look full transparency - I don't even know Kyle Merber and hence have zero reason to defend him, but I struggle to see how deserves any blame for this at all. It's not like Johnson went to him and said "you've got an athlete budget of 200k" and he spent 4 million. Kyle Merber didn't decide on the crazy prize structure and even more idiotic format that translated into insane operating costs. Whatever his compensation was wasn't anywhere near what the "executive board" and that lineup of shisters bled out of the coffers.
"As of 2025, Merber is the director of Athletes and Racing for Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track League." - From Wikipedia.
Sure sounds like an extremely important job to me. So stop trying to portray him as an intern.
And he's still there collecting a fat paycheck while the athletes (his close personal friends) get SCREWED.
If you’re so convinced he wasn’t in on the scam, then why is he not speaking, not being transparent and has gone into hiding like the rest of these scammy grifters?
Obviously if he is still employed by GST he can't say anything without risk of being fired, and even if no longer employed there could be a nondisclosure agreement.
They might be keeping him on to help wind things down, even if there is no hope of a future. Employees have first dibs when it comes to payment, so there is little risk there. He's probably embarrassed about the fiasco but is not at fault - maybe in another year or two he will be able to say more.
That the US Free Enterprise system. It's easy to try something new. But people often suffer if you fail. Think of the alternative if no one could try new ideas. We would have no LA2028 if it were not for Tom Bradley, UCLA Track Star, LAPD Vice Squad Lieutennant, Mayor of Los Angeles, who made LA 1984 the 1st Profitable Olympics and 1st Global Live bilingual TV Olympics in over 200 count.res.
Tom was the genius behind many business ventures. Tom is the founder of the policy tp bring gasoline, insurance, motion picture, etc, investors in from all over the world and make them Angelenos. It was a revolutionary idea in the 1980s to push investors to be involved stakeholders in Los Angeles. Tom made it popular.
The Modern Olympics is Tom Bradley's invention and is how 1984 Los Angeles became the First MONEY Making Live Global Olympic Games in hundreds of languages. Before Tom the Olys were always a huge loss that took 50 years to pay down. Tom hooked in Hollywood Network TV with Hollywood independent Brokers and shopped feed to 200 countries. Many countries never had TV broadcasts before and decided to build TV broadcasting capability \when offered the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
"It's 100% confirmed that Merber deserves a lot of blame for GST's failure."
Okay pump the brakes. Let's get real here about Merbers role in all of this. He was basically in "charge" (to some degree) of assembling fields and signing athletes. That's it.
He didn't decide the format, he was basically given numbers (that he had no way of knowing the validity of) and told to get fields - and he did. But GST's issue wasn't it's quality of talent - it was what they forced their talent to do, how they marketed it (they talked a massive game but did f-all in that respect) and how they blew money on unimportant things.
Look full transparency - I don't even know Kyle Merber and hence have zero reason to defend him, but I struggle to see how deserves any blame for this at all. It's not like Johnson went to him and said "you've got an athlete budget of 200k" and he spent 4 million. Kyle Merber didn't decide on the crazy prize structure and even more idiotic format that translated into insane operating costs. Whatever his compensation was wasn't anywhere near what the "executive board" and that lineup of shisters bled out of the coffers.
"As of 2025, Merber is the director of Athletes and Racing for Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track League." - From Wikipedia.
Sure sounds like an extremely important job to me. So stop trying to portray him as an intern.
And he's still there collecting a fat paycheck while the athletes (his close personal friends) get SCREWED.
The important thing is whether he knew about GST claiming it had $30M committed from investors when it didn’t. Even if he did, it’s very unlikely it was his decision to move forward. It looks like Merber is just an employee of GST so why should he be grilled for something that wasn’t his fault?
I think MJ is hoping to avoid court where a deep investigation will take place. He wants this swept under the rug before the paper trail is discovered. I hope nobody accepts this and instead pursue litigation. MJ will be forced to disclose information that he desperately wants to remain hidden.
I doubt it. What seems more likely is they had a term sheet, told everyone that it was a done deal, and then 9 fans showed up to the first meet in Jamaica and the principal investor declined to move forward.
Actually this is fact.
Is it possible MJ wants to hide some shady sheet? Sure. Either way, at best it was pure incompetence
Like other companies, GST is audited once a year. The auditor will want to see documentation for anything over a certain amount, like maybe $1,000. The cash flow statement links the beginning and ending bank balances and there’s no way to hide any unauthorized withdrawals. If Johnson did some shady sheet, it would quickly be linked to him. Johnson would then have a choice between returning the funds or facing criminal charges.
I would describe Johnson’s behavior as being reckless rather than being incompetent.
Like other companies, GST is audited once a year. The auditor will want to see documentation for anything over a certain amount, like maybe $1,000. The cash flow statement links the beginning and ending bank balances and there’s no way to hide any unauthorized withdrawals. If Johnson did some shady sheet, it would quickly be linked to him. Johnson would then have a choice between returning the funds or facing criminal charges.
I would describe Johnson’s behavior as being reckless rather than being incompetent.
Do you KNOW that GST is audited once and year? If so, how do you know this concretely?
The fact they they had 1 meet or 2 meets is a rarity in itself since no one ever gets off the ground with their idea in one town monopoly industry, Hollywood TV corners 99.4% of the T&F/XC/Running market.
What’s the rationale for making the offer of 50% payments to vendors being contingent on *all* vendors accepting? It makes it look like they want some vendors to decline so that when, ultimately, they end up defaulting on all the debts they owe they’ll be able to say they offered partial payment and were rebuffed.
Probably for legal reasons they need all the major vendors to agree to the same terms. Plus if your'e a vendor you may not take the 50% if you think someone else is geting more. Sounds like the vendors could try and force a bankruptcy co make sure they are paid the same or do it within 90 days of the athletes getting paid to make sure the athletes don't get a higher% than what they get.
Like other companies, GST is audited once a year. The auditor will want to see documentation for anything over a certain amount, like maybe $1,000. The cash flow statement links the beginning and ending bank balances and there’s no way to hide any unauthorized withdrawals. If Johnson did some shady sheet, it would quickly be linked to him. Johnson would then have a choice between returning the funds or facing criminal charges.
I would describe Johnson’s behavior as being reckless rather than being incompetent.
Do you KNOW that GST is audited once and year? If so, how do you know this concretely?
GST crashing and burning was obvious right from the start and I certainly think less of the athletes who signed up for it because they're only motivated by money.
There's a reason for why the track and field circuit is concentrated around Europe, and it's because the interest for track and field actually exists there which it doesn't do to the same extent in the US.
You're not going to make people who don't care about the sport suddenly start caring if you add a bunch of gimmicks and head to head matchups between athletes the people who aren't interested in the sport haven't even heard of before.
What was the plan to make back the money that the investors had put into it? Through ticket sales and selling off the TV rights, for a TV product that was laughably poor?
"It's 100% confirmed that Merber deserves a lot of blame for GST's failure."
Okay pump the brakes. Let's get real here about Merbers role in all of this. He was basically in "charge" (to some degree) of assembling fields and signing athletes. That's it.
He didn't decide the format, he was basically given numbers (that he had no way of knowing the validity of) and told to get fields - and he did. But GST's issue wasn't it's quality of talent - it was what they forced their talent to do, how they marketed it (they talked a massive game but did f-all in that respect) and how they blew money on unimportant things.
Look full transparency - I don't even know Kyle Merber and hence have zero reason to defend him, but I struggle to see how deserves any blame for this at all. It's not like Johnson went to him and said "you've got an athlete budget of 200k" and he spent 4 million. Kyle Merber didn't decide on the crazy prize structure and even more idiotic format that translated into insane operating costs. Whatever his compensation was wasn't anywhere near what the "executive board" and that lineup of shisters bled out of the coffers.
If you’re so convinced he wasn’t in on the scam, then why is he not speaking, not being transparent and has gone into hiding like the rest of these scammy grifters?
Uhh, how about this
In the first scenario that he is still employed, you think he's going to come out and actively sh-tcan the organization he still receives a paycheck from? Would you do that?
In the second scenario that he was let go, like those other employees, he will have had a contract that included some kind of severance in the event he wasn't let go with cause (fired). I would imagine he was made redundant (let go without cause) and part of receiving any part of that severance/payout is signing an non-disclosure/solicitation that says you basically can't say a word about what went on for a set period of time (usually 12 months). In corporate jobs here in the US, this is very commonplace to have these agreements/documents in situations like this.
So sure, he can come out and appease you by spilling the beans and he will either be fired with cause for doing exactly that or he's going to lose whatever severance/payout he got in the event he's already been let go. In either scenario this is exactly why you haven't heard him or any of those other scammy grifters speaking.
"As of 2025, Merber is the director of Athletes and Racing for Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track League." - From Wikipedia.
Sure sounds like an extremely important job to me. So stop trying to portray him as an intern.
And he's still there collecting a fat paycheck while the athletes (his close personal friends) get SCREWED.
I'm not portraying him as an intern, but if you don't know the difference between an "executive" board level position and a director role within a company then this conversation is a total waste of my time.
Do you KNOW that GST is audited once and year? If so, how do you know this concretely?
Of course it is. They have to file tax returns.
I own companies I have never been required to be audited. It has nothing to do with filing tax returns. GAAP and tax are completely different. I know if you have over 500 investors you used to have to be audited and file public financial statements but I believe the jobs act changed that
What’s the rationale for making the offer of 50% payments to vendors being contingent on *all* vendors accepting? It makes it look like they want some vendors to decline so that when, ultimately, they end up defaulting on all the debts they owe they’ll be able to say they offered partial payment and were rebuffed.
Probably for legal reasons they need all the major vendors to agree to the same terms. Plus if your'e a vendor you may not take the 50% if you think someone else is geting more. Sounds like the vendors could try and force a bankruptcy co make sure they are paid the same or do it within 90 days of the athletes getting paid to make sure the athletes don't get a higher% than what they get.
Bankruptcy judges have a lot of discretion. For instance, it’s often stated employees have priority. I’m not sure if that’s true or not but a bankruptcy lawyer I talked to said employees almost always get paid the money they are owed. But he also said in 30 years he had one case where the judge didn’t ok paying the employees. It’s very unusual but just shows you how much discretion the judge has.