Michael Johnson issues letter saying they don’t have the money, no GST2026 unless athletes paid

TLDR;

Nobody getting paid, no GST next year, lawsuits incoming.

Thanks, I am brain-dead when it comes to technology!

Nobody, including Ackman, is required to throw their money away. I love track, but if I was an investor and watched GST 1 and 2 and had a legal option to pull my money out, I'd pull it out. Wouldn't you? The other option would be a hostile takeover, where you keep your money in, but only if the entire leadership team was fired and replaced.

If I made a commitment to support an innovative athletics product for less than 0.2% of my total net worth that was literally life-changing for some of the world's most impressive modern athletes, yes I would stay true to my word if I cared about not being a scummy person. I would be working with the commissioner to assess and re-build into the 2nd season rather than pulling the plug entirely.

Let's say somebody makes $80,000/year. That's the equivalent of $160 purchase out of their annual income. Less than half the price of a flight ticket to Eugene for most of the country. That's the amount of money this scummy billionaire wasn't willing to see through to the end of their committed investment. I don't care what a contract says or doesn't say, if you do that kind of thing, you're a trash person.

If the BBC drop MJ there's only Paula left to provide expert doping analysis

I haven't reviewed all of the contracts and timelines, but the fault lies with the organizers. You don't make promises that are not backed by hard money in the bank. If the investors reneged on a contract, then of course, they need to be held to account and brought to court if needed. This was not a charitable gift and GST is not a non profit, this is an investment opportunity. Professional sports is a business. If Ackman et al pledged philanthropic money to support the "poor track athletes support association 501c3", and they backed out, that's different. This whole thing was about making money and an investor can pull out if not legally bound when they decide it's a bust. That's our system. You are just asking rich people to make a charitable contribution to track. That's ok, but that was not the ask as far as I understand.

That's reassuring. Phil Knight likes to sponsor high school athletic events but pros only get individual sponsorships - no events. Unless this becomes Nike GST it's over.

wrote checks, signed contracts, with NO money in the bank.

that say's it all.

no one will back MJ and that absolute farce of business practices

it's more than over.

This is where he should get flamed by prosecutors pressing fraud charges against him. They are going to have a field day proving how he failed to disclose shaky nonbinding “commitments” as the funding base to the athletes & vendors who signed agreements with GST and passed off what were likely just conversations or “handshake agreements” as cash in hand. If he didn’t get the funding agreements contractually signed, or didn’t appropriately disclose the financial situation to the signing parties (athletes, agents, vendors), they are going to cook him like a Thanksgiving turkey in court.

MJ’s language is telling. He’s moping about an investor failing to “honor their commitment” which is a far cry from “aggressively pursuing an investor who signed a contractual obligation for an agreed-upon funding figure”.

There is a minuscule chance the athletes & vendors were informed and were as hypnotized as MJ was with GST being “the next big thing”, but decided to accept the risk in the hopes that it would work out. It’s possible that athletes like Noah Lyles and venues like Hayward Field saw these risks outlined and decided it was against their best judgement.

However I find it highly suspect to think all the athletes, vendors, and agents who signed agreements would have recklessly signed off on a document that appropriately addressed the serious risks associated. I also find it hard to believe that GST would have taken the time & care to hire competent attorneys who could craft documents with precise language to make all the parties aware of the risk. Everything we’ve found out about the GST organization has looked like a chaotic school project thrown together on the bus ride the morning it’s due. It would be shocking to me if they had they had their ducks in order and all of those athletes, agents and vendors simply took a gamble. It’s magnitudes more likely GST took the hasty risk and wasn’t being truthful about it, and have now been caught & exposed.

MJ’s language is telling. He’s moping about an investor failing to “honor their commitment” You mean he is saying what happened? We all know it was Ackman.

Yes that seems to be what happened, but the point is it was ridiculous to need to depend on someone "honoring their commitment." Grand Slam should have received the funds prior to the first event, or at a minimum had a legally binding contract requiring the investor to fund the money based on some agreed schedule/milestones. And where I think MJ was truly dishonest and behaved in an inexcusable way was still holding the Miami and Philadelphia meet when he knew by that point the investor had decided not to honor his "commitment."

If Ackman said "I'm in for $30 million if you can raise $10 million elsewhere" and MJ failed to raise 10, can you really blame the guy for backing out?

What an incredible sales pitch by MJ here. This is like telling a girl on your first date together that you just got dumped for cheating, but you’re a changed man since way back on Tuesday when that all went down, and it’s going to be great if she just gives you a chance.

This is such a pathetic stance from MJ to claim he’s the gatekeeper on whether or not next season will happen. “You all aren’t going to experience the exhilarating performances of these incredible athletes until my bills have been paid. Who’s going to step up?”

Ol’ Mr. HGH himself, MJ, will skate off with quite a haul for himself. He’s always been a lying fraud, yet people still fall for his BS. Unreal. lol

I appreciate the sentiment, but don't quit your day jobs as the rush to lawsuits, fraud and prosecution are laughable legally. That's barring some set of facts that is really, really unlikely to be the case.

For one, Ackman may be an a-hole but he and his team are obviously experienced investors and, esp with a start-up like this that had no leverage, I can pretty much guarantee that they had walk-away language in whatever they signed that allowed them to do just that.

GST can and probably will be sued, but MJ isn't going to be personally liable and, in the end, GST shuts down and the creditors (athletes, vendors, etc) are out of luck. There are going to be de minimis assets to distribute in any bankruptcy process.

MJ may suck and have overpromised, but GST breaching contracts with athletes and vendors isn't "fraud" in the legal sense, nor is it criminal. Elizabeth Holmes, by contrast and among other things, committed securities fraud by lying to investors to raise billions of dollars. This is apples and oranges from a legal perspective.

You think athletes asked Michael if his funding was secured? I highly doubt it.

Same thing with most vendors.

TV people might have been smart and said "pay us beforehand we have to get trucks down there, etc".

But I bet the stadium, etc just said "here's the fee" and they expect to get paid after the event.

GST had given the impression they had a lot of financial backing. Now that wasn't the case, but most people assumed it to be true.

I think that's most likely the scenario. Not being able to pay something isn't a crime. If they fraudulently told people the money was secured that would be something else. But I just looked it up, "Grand Slam Track has secured more than $30 million in financial commitments from investors and strategic partners for the launch of the league." is the language in their first press release.

they didn't say they had $30 million they said they had "$30 million in financial commitments."

Absolutely inevitable.

One of the worst ideas to ever come to the sport:

1) Leave out half the athletes in the sport.

2) Host it in a continent that is great at the sport but doesnt show up to watch it live.

3) Promise over the top payouts to athletes when they probably would have entered for 80% less. Making the whole concept unsustainable.

The investors are idiots, Michael Johnson is an idiot and the athletes that entered are idiots for even believing this would take off.

The smart athletes stayed out of it, not being taken for mugs, good on them.

Meanwhile the Diamond League is selling out stadiums all over Europe.

Good riddance to GST.