GST financial update: GST still hasn't paid Miramar for stadium, MJ says they had cash crunch after key investor pulled out after going to Jamaica event
Sorry but I personally would never support any venture or company that Michael Johnson or Kyle Merber were ever involved with in the future. I understand that ny actions are punitive but these type of people need to be ousted from our sport. I feel the same way about Alberto and the Gabrielle Rosa.
Sorry but I personally would never support any venture or company that Michael Johnson or Kyle Merber were ever involved with in the future. I understand that ny actions are punitive but these type of people need to be ousted from our sport. I feel the same way about Alberto and the Gabrielle Rosa.
MJ was allegedly pumping every drug going into his system , whether that's true of not Idk
The conspiracy theories about drug testing probably originated with him and how his 3 relay teammates got busted and he didn't
The Italians and the Africans that story is clear . Mix drugs and the best athletes and a little coaching and it's a win-win until the anti doping got ramped up
lol. Stock market HIT AN ALL TIME HIGH AFTER “tarrifs”. You sir, are the moron, blinded by political intolerance.
It took weeks for the market to recover, after it became clear that the moron always chickens out. This investor got cold feet in early April
Guy has 8 figures to invest in a startup track league yet panics over his investment portfolio over a period of “weeks”, before it hits all time highs. Your lack of depth of thought, sums up your political stances, perfectly.
MJ should SUE the investors who acted in BAD faith.
MJ is to blame. No good business man will spend money he doesn't have -- money he hasn't secured. MJ stated several times that he "had" $30m for GST. Crazy man.
A buyout seems the best hope of the athletes getting paid
I just don't understand why anyone would buy this thing when the Diamond League regularly has races that are just as competitive, or even more competitive.
This was something I never understood about GST. It tried to provide a good that the Diamond League already pretty successfully provides. The difference, they claimed, was that they paid athletes more and so we would get even better head-to-head matchups. But these didn't end up being anything better than a solid regular DL race. And a GST win held no weight for me.
I don't see how the whole doubling thing contributed anything to the experience either. We got to see Wanyonyi take it to the 1500 guys in an early season 1500, but this could have just as easily happened in a regular DL race, and the 1500 guys never did anything worth watching in the 800. The 3k/5k races were essentially the same sit-and-kick races (I do like sit-and-kick races, don't get me wrong), and then they eliminated the 5k.
And, ultimately, while I'm happy to see track athletes get paid, the mere fact of them getting paid doesn't actually hold any viewing appeal to me. When I watch a really amazing race, the amount the runners get paid afterwards doesn't actually impact my enjoyment of the race at all. So, this element of GST wasn't a contributing factor to the (or at least my) viewing experience. And, obviously, this is even more of a non-factor now that we know those athletes aren't actually going to get paid.
This is actually something I don't understand about attempts to "save the sport" more broadly. They're all trying to re-package the same fundamental thing in hopes of drawing attention from "casual fans" or even non-runners. Would better coverage make the viewing experience more enjoyable? Definitely. Watching the WMMs is oftentimes really brutal. But will better coverage actually attract new viewers? Almost certainly not. The average person in the US can't run a mile (and hasn't sprinted all out since they were a kid, or maybe ever), and it's unfathomable to them that anyone would run for enjoyment, much less watch running for enjoyment. Those same people are happy to watch basketball/football/baseball though, but I don't think that's because those sports have a better viewing experience or the athletes are paid more. I think it's because any out of shape person can go shoot hoops or throw around a ball and envision that they're just like the pros. They relate to them more in some way. Track and field is just not ever going to happen for those people, no matter how well it's package, how much the athletes get paid, or how much swagger they have. (This is less true for sprints--think Usain Bolt--but I think these people have an easier time relating to a 10-second sprint than they do anything longer.)
I think these efforts to "save the sport" are misguided and will always fail. I think what they ought to do is try to improve the viewing experience in hopes of actually getting real fans (who already do exist) to pay for the good. It's tough to figure out how to watch races throughout the season--is it on Peacock, FloTrack, or USATF.tv, or some separate livestream, or do we need a VPN? I'm probably even forgetting some platforms. And it's tough to follow the athletes we're fans of--when, where, and what are my favorite athletes racing throughout the season? This all shouldn't be this tough for me, someone who is a huge fan of the sport and willing to pay to watch it, to follow! Creating some sort of governing body that organizes athletes, meets, and streaming into an easy-to-follow package presents its own challenges, but I reckon a well-funded attempt to do that would be more successful than throwing completely unproductive dollars into attracting new fans.
I am a fan of the sport who already pays to watch it, and I will pay even more to watch a well-produced, easy-to-follow, predictable set of meets with good athletes. I am guaranteed money if they invest in viewers like me, but they keep trying to cater to non-fans.
Guy has 8 figures to invest in a startup track league yet panics over his investment portfolio over a period of “weeks”, before it hits all time highs. Your lack of depth of thought, sums up your political stances, perfectly.
Fair or not, there's a reason why one of POTUS' nicknames is TACO, and it wasn't until that was established that the market got its groove back. I was warning people not to jump ship too quickly.
A buyout seems the best hope of the athletes getting paid
I just don't understand why anyone would buy this thing when the Diamond League regularly has races that are just as competitive, or even more competitive.
This was something I never understood about GST. It tried to provide a good that the Diamond League already pretty successfully provides. The difference, they claimed, was that they paid athletes more and so we would get even better head-to-head matchups. But these didn't end up being anything better than a solid regular DL race. And a GST win held no weight for me.
I don't see how the whole doubling thing contributed anything to the experience either. We got to see Wanyonyi take it to the 1500 guys in an early season 1500, but this could have just as easily happened in a regular DL race, and the 1500 guys never did anything worth watching in the 800. The 3k/5k races were essentially the same sit-and-kick races (I do like sit-and-kick races, don't get me wrong), and then they eliminated the 5k.
And, ultimately, while I'm happy to see track athletes get paid, the mere fact of them getting paid doesn't actually hold any viewing appeal to me. When I watch a really amazing race, the amount the runners get paid afterwards doesn't actually impact my enjoyment of the race at all. So, this element of GST wasn't a contributing factor to the (or at least my) viewing experience. And, obviously, this is even more of a non-factor now that we know those athletes aren't actually going to get paid.
This is actually something I don't understand about attempts to "save the sport" more broadly. They're all trying to re-package the same fundamental thing in hopes of drawing attention from "casual fans" or even non-runners. Would better coverage make the viewing experience more enjoyable? Definitely. Watching the WMMs is oftentimes really brutal. But will better coverage actually attract new viewers? Almost certainly not. The average person in the US can't run a mile (and hasn't sprinted all out since they were a kid, or maybe ever), and it's unfathomable to them that anyone would run for enjoyment, much less watch running for enjoyment. Those same people are happy to watch basketball/football/baseball though, but I don't think that's because those sports have a better viewing experience or the athletes are paid more. I think it's because any out of shape person can go shoot hoops or throw around a ball and envision that they're just like the pros. They relate to them more in some way. Track and field is just not ever going to happen for those people, no matter how well it's package, how much the athletes get paid, or how much swagger they have. (This is less true for sprints--think Usain Bolt--but I think these people have an easier time relating to a 10-second sprint than they do anything longer.)
I think these efforts to "save the sport" are misguided and will always fail. I think what they ought to do is try to improve the viewing experience in hopes of actually getting real fans (who already do exist) to pay for the good. It's tough to figure out how to watch races throughout the season--is it on Peacock, FloTrack, or USATF.tv, or some separate livestream, or do we need a VPN? I'm probably even forgetting some platforms. And it's tough to follow the athletes we're fans of--when, where, and what are my favorite athletes racing throughout the season? This all shouldn't be this tough for me, someone who is a huge fan of the sport and willing to pay to watch it, to follow! Creating some sort of governing body that organizes athletes, meets, and streaming into an easy-to-follow package presents its own challenges, but I reckon a well-funded attempt to do that would be more successful than throwing completely unproductive dollars into attracting new fans.
I am a fan of the sport who already pays to watch it, and I will pay even more to watch a well-produced, easy-to-follow, predictable set of meets with good athletes. I am guaranteed money if they invest in viewers like me, but they keep trying to cater to non-fans.
Investor went to Jamaica and saw no-one was there. Like me, he or she must have been stunned by how few people were there.
Immediately decided to cut bait and not dump more money into venture. Investor (or GST), like many in the country. tries to blame it on Trump. Can someone please tell me how tariffs would impact a pro sports league?
Dennis Young wrote: A source familiar with the matter told FOS the investor reneged on their eight-figure term sheet days after attending Grand Slam’s April debut in Kingston, Jamaica, saying they planned to invest their money elsewhere after President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement.
PS. Here is the link to Young's actual article which I have added to the first post.
Also Corey Mull has a tweet out about how they haven't paid Miramar:
That investor absolutely made the right choice. Kingston was a huge mistake. It was obvious, even watching on TV, that GST had no future in the format used in Kingston. LA should have been the first meet. Shame, because Philly was a good meet. They were dialing in the format, but by then it was too late.
Investor went to Jamaica and saw no-one was there. Like me, he or she must have been stunned by how few people were there.
Immediately decided to cut bait and not dump more money into venture. Investor (or GST), like many in the country. tries to blame it on Trump. Can someone please tell me how tariffs would impact a pro sports league?
PS. Here is the link to Young's actual article which I have added to the first post.
Also Corey Mull has a tweet out about how they haven't paid Miramar:
That investor absolutely made the right choice. Kingston was a huge mistake. It was obvious, even watching on TV, that GST had no future in the format used in Kingston. LA should have been the first meet. Shame, because Philly was a good meet. They were dialing in the format, but by then it was too late.
Yeah choosing Kingston as the first meet was totally bizarre and doomed this thing from the start. If you've ever watched the Jamaican trials, the stands are almost totally empty. I have no idea why they thought they could succeed there. I thought the Philly meet went quite well and probably would not have led to investor pull-outs if they started there.
Also, clearly something was going on behind the scenes between jamaican athletes/agents and GST because none of them raced the Kingston meet, despite the much higher (promised) payouts and appearance fees. Some of them were running in random meets halfway across the world that same day, it never made any sense.
Investor went to Jamaica and saw no-one was there. Like me, he or she must have been stunned by how few people were there.
Immediately decided to cut bait and not dump more money into venture. Investor (or GST), like many in the country. tries to blame it on Trump. Can someone please tell me how tariffs would impact a pro sports league?
PS. Here is the link to Young's actual article which I have added to the first post.
Also Corey Mull has a tweet out about how they haven't paid Miramar:
That investor absolutely made the right choice. Kingston was a huge mistake. It was obvious, even watching on TV, that GST had no future in the format used in Kingston. LA should have been the first meet. Shame, because Philly was a good meet. They were dialing in the format, but by then it was too late.
Well, if the investor only put up a LOI, then he would be smart to bail. Had he been force to commit, he'd just have to make the best of it.
The day after Trump made the tariff announcement, I lost a buy with whom I had a gentlemen's agreement. I completely understood. ... Anyone with a lot of capital to lose lost a lot of confidence in the market the first week of April.
For many of us, if we were in Bill's shoes and only had a LOI (which was probably breached with poor Jamaica attendance), then we would dip too. It was on MJ to secure funding.
I asked the most basic question before this started? Why tf are they paying $100k to winners? Even our Olympic champions are happy to get $10k-$20k for winning meets.
I’m not sure why folks are talking about suing GST. There is almost certainly no money to be recovered. Winning a judgement against an entity without assets isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. No blood from a stone. For the athletes — it’s unfortunate but the risk they took on a new league.
I’m not sure why folks are talking about suing GST. There is almost certainly no money to be recovered. Winning a judgement against an entity without assets isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. No blood from a stone. For the athletes — it’s unfortunate but the risk they took on a new league.
Yes and unless there is any proof Johnson deliberately and knowingly misled athletes with respect to finances, than nobody can touch him or his assets.
And based on reports like this - an “investor” reneging on what appears to have been conditional funding at best? No chance - as you said, what are they going to win? Some leftover T-shirts?
One positive to come out of this? Probably won’t see Johnson’s face again in and around the sport and it will make a superb case study topic for sports business management papers at colleges across the nation.
He didn’t say that tariffs impacted the sports league. He said that they planned to invest elsewhere post-tariffs.
Do you understand the difference?
So what, "better" investments just popped up post tariffs - even though a track and field league ostensibly has nothing to do with these tariffs (ie. didn't make it a better or worse investment) and all this happens around the time that the first meet goes off with a crowd of about 10000 people across 3 days and some of the most comically bad races ever seen in the sport at a pro level (a 3000m won in 7.50 where the guy jogged the final 100m in 18 seconds). This was just a coincidence completely unrelated and solely due to tariffs and the redirection of investor money?
Quick question for you - how is it living in a effing dreamworld buddy? You enjoying it? God lord.
Did you just ask me what better investment opportunities than GST existed in April this year?