No athlete is going to want to sign with Grand Slam next year after this fiasco. No agent will want their athletes to sign on UNLESS Grand Slam overhauls their payment structure and offers legal guarantees that the payouts are there. Anything short of that, there is zero percent change of Grand Slam happening in 2026.
You'd be surprised how quickly the athletes will change their mind once they're paid in full, particularly with the high levels of payment GST had to offer.
Yes, and we know from previous reporting that World Athletics took more than 5 months to issue payments for the World Indoor Championships this year, so GST wasn't alone in being late on athlete compensation.
That said, the problem for GST, besides its ruined reputation and mountain of debt, is they are running out of time for planning a 2026 season. They're saying they need another 2 months to secure funding to pay everyone for this year. That takes us to December before they can start raising capital for 2026. It would be very difficult to get much done during the holiday season, so more realistically, they're looking at January before they can really get going for a 2026 season.
Say they need another couple of months to raise the funds needed for a 2026 season. Now we're in March, and they still need to book venues/hotels, sign athletes, arrange television coverage, etc. Highly unlikely they can put on a full season at that point. Maybe just one meet or two.
I suppose it's possible they could have investors lined up who are saying they're willing to finance the future but won't cover past expenses. In that case, maybe they can move forward with planning the 2026 season in December/January once they've paid everyone for this year, but that would still be late in the organizing process. I presume it would also take time to repair relationships they've damaged.
TL/DR: The longer they take to pay up for 2025, the less likely a 2026 season will happen.
One way GST will save money is to cut the distance races entirely. If MJ and Co. somehow regroup and go ahead with another season, they'll cut the distance races (3000/5000). Ultimately, MJ wants GST to be a sprint-fest with no distance races. He'd cut the 800/1500 if possible, but knows he'll lose a lot of fans if he does that.
Question:
Does MJ keep his name involved in GST? Would anybody trust him or GST if he did stay involved?
One way GST will save money is to cut the distance races entirely. If MJ and Co. somehow regroup and go ahead with another season, they'll cut the distance races (3000/5000). Ultimately, MJ wants GST to be a sprint-fest with no distance races. He'd cut the 800/1500 if possible, but knows he'll lose a lot of fans if he does that.
Question:
Does MJ keep his name involved in GST? Would anybody trust him or GST if he did stay involved?
Soooo many people at the Philly GST this year were there for the distance races. It would crush them if they did that.
They need to give the people what they want: a steeplechase/mile group.
Yeah, taking 2026 off would probably be a good idea
They need to give people time to let the bad taste fade if they do intend to come back.
If anyone intends to bring GST back, it can't be with Michael Johnson as it's figurehead.
He is the face of the epic over-promise/under-deliver that was season 1. Ironically he might have had a chance to save face when it collapsed but even then he couldn't bring himself to be humble and just admit the leagues and his own shortcomings. Who can forget the "we achieved everything we set out to that's why are just closing it down" press release?
So how does it work then? Someone acquires the league from him? It is possible that this is what the emergency funding was - "we will pay a portion of your debts but we acquire the league". Because it still comes back to this, why would anyone give this guy money to run a track league after year one? I don't think there is any amount of time that lets the bad taste fade - especially when you have blown it with respect to finances and your primary assets - your athletes.
Considering what has transpired, if they were to try a 2026 season, everyone would want cash up front. This would include hotels, venues, pre-paid travel expenses, appearance fees, and proof they actually have prize money in the bank. Even if somehow, they get the rest of the money to pay all the debts from the past season, they will need millions more to pay all the costs upfront because NO ONE will extend credit, be willing to bill after the event, etc.