To all the Michael Johnson haters, court documents reveal that MJ may lose $2.2 million that he loaned the league

This did was a good commentator for the 2009 and 2011 world champs. What the hell happened ?

Phil Knight should have $BILLION Nike Icon.LA Film Studios make a feature film about how the Grand Slam Track cheated.

They had raised over $19 million before the 1st meet and this was the crowd for the first race:

What are you talking about? The company is supposed to create money for my lifestyle. If the money is going the other way how does that help me besides keep my company alive?

Debts are $10 million higher than reported because they are including the SAFE investments (equity) and Michael Johnson's loan which wasn't there before + now you have the expense of the bankruptcy I believe. The amount owed to non insiders didn't change.

Not responding to anyone is particular, but how can any reasonable human think this endeavor was a well thought out scam instead of just another failed business attempt, which you know, happens all the time?

If this thing goes under Winners Alliance (Bill Ackman related entity) will be the biggest loser by far in terms of $ lost. They're on the hook for $23+ million before now funding the bankruptcy which is like $3-5 million more without looking it up.

Winners Alliance appears to be the only secured creditor, which puts them at the front of the line instead of the back with everyone else in the bankruptcy. The problem for them is their loan is is secured against the league’s IP and future operations, which look to be worth nothing now unless I'm really missing something.

Being secured gives Winners Alliance leverage in the bankruptcy process, including a separate voting class, blocking power over a plan, but it's going to take a ton of money for this to keep going and if someone ponies that up, they would be the ones in charge I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.

People love conspiracy theories. We're naturally inclined to gravitate towards them. If you're in the bush and you hear something rustle in the woods, most likely it's just the wind, but it's probably better safe than sorry to think it's a lion.

But MJ starting a huge scam doesn't really hold water. How's he's going to dupe Winners Alliance, which is very savvy in investing in sports, to let him steal there money? It really doesn't make sense.

But MJ is bad at business isn't nearly as entertaining.

without the haters and armchair coaching there would be no "Boards".

Conspiracy theories are easy.

hers one I just made up. Coe never wanted this to succeed. He’s a big Chelsea fan and knows the owners. The Chelsea owners were the ones who pulled the funding. Coe made sure this happened and GST failed. See how easy it is.

In theory the assets include the athletes still under contract for 2026. Hocker, Kerr etc. Of course, I think they’d have to be made whole for a judge to uphold the validity of the contract

I've heard lots of people call GST a scam. I haven't heard anyone call it a well thought out scam.

Savvy in investing in sports? How did they decide to invest in this poorly planned scheme? Where did they think the revenue would come from? Did they think it was reasonable to spend so much money upfront without securing the revenue first?

If they were willing to invest for the long term while the upstart keeps operating on the deficit, why aren't they doing that right now?

People like MJ, LM, CC, etc. from history are normally not around much longer after what they did.

So Ackman (owner Winners alliance -- 1st in line) will get some of the money that was paid to the runners?

I don’t consider Grand Slam to be a scam, but also don’t think calling it just a failed, well intentioned business venture is accurate. I think the latter was true at the time of the Kingston meet, but after that the circumstances changed and I think Grand Slam had a responsibility to inform the athletes and vendors. GS was able to take advantage of the fact that athletes are accustomed to not being paid immediately and that each meet was at a different venue. I know Rojo said the athletes still got paid more than they would have otherwise, but GS shouldn’t have made that decision for them, they should have been told updated prize/appearance money figures and been allowed to decide if they still wanted to compete. Same goes for the vendors.

That's a good take. The lack of transparency is what pisses me off the most. From the get go I thought they had $30 million. In hindset they spend even more than that despite not having the money.

Assuming Ackman and Winners Alliance (maybe MJ himself) are secured creditors, yes, they will be paid first im order of seniority before any of the unsecured creditors get anything. They may agree to restructure the secured debt if GST can advance a viable plan (doubtful), but unsecured creditors will get nothing. And, as previously described, the money paid to the athletes during the 90 day preference period will be clawed back into the bankruptcy estate. If the thing emerges from ch 11 as a going concern, hard to believe what athletes will expose themselves again to the business risk.

To be clear, i am not relishing any of this. The real bummer is that athletes are the big losers in MJ’s venture. He was betting the athletes time and talent on the come. Ended very badly and probably casts a shadow over similar entrepreneurship for quite awhile.

Absent true charity from the secured creditor(s), this looks like it will convert to a ch. 7 liquidation. The math looks pretty bleak. curious what the forthcoming “plan” looks like.