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

MJ should go to prison wrote:

Chafford1 wrote:

Here's the interview:

Video:youtu.be/2LgJLXUZ7-E?si=rEyOJWPnLro0yH...

Did Johnson answer a single question he was asked during this interview? The interviewer's questions were outstanding, direct, appropriate, and made Johnson very uncomfortable.

He should be a politician. He literally danced around every question he was asked, especially the last one where he was directly asked "where did the money go?"

1) Why did you cancel the LA meet? Avoided question. Interviewer followed up:

2) Was that for financial reasons? I just want to be really clear there. Admitted financial difficulties, blamed it on an investor not "honoring their complete commitment" [look on interviewer's face @ 1:31 is priceless], then rambled for two minutes talking about the "amazing season," television broadcasting, social media engagement, getting attention from new investors (whom he did not identify), etc.

3) Who was the investor and how much did they pull out? Avoided question. Did not identify the investor or amount of money.

4) You have millions in payments you owe to vendors and athletes. The deadline has been moved a couple times. Before you can plan for next season, you need to pay off those debts. Are you looking at raising more money from existing investors or looking for new investors? Avoided question. "All of those things" was the only statement he made in response to the question, then rambled on about himself working day and night to solve the problems.

5) I want to understand how we ended up where we are. Were there any mistakes that you or the organization made that led us to this place? Avoided question. Did not identify a single mistake that was made. Simply said we made mistakes just like any startup makes. Rambled about how athletes always critique their own performances, talked about the economy, again mentioned the investor pulling out, "we need to be more cautious."

6) Is there any risk of not moving forward? Is this a bankruptcy situation or we will definitely be back, we just need to reshuffle? Avoided question. "We proved a lot of what we needed to prove in year one." Rambled about the best athletes in the world, how they enjoyed the competition, how GST flew them to the meets and covered all their travel, "helped the athletes build their own brands," we connected with fans, puts us in "great shape for next year." Talked about needed to take care of the athletes and lots of people behind the scenes from this past season, "which we will do, and then we are on to next year."

7) You mentioned the economic picture being a problem, can you be a little more specific? What in the economy are you talking about? Volatility in markets, uncertainty right now, tariffs, rambled about the meets being only four weeks apart was a "furious" pace for the organization, about flying athletes first class plus one, single hotel rooms, treating the athletes better than they are used to, etc.

8) You talked about first-class travel and first-class accommodations, you lined up all these commitments, $30-$40 million depending on the reports, WHERE DID ALL THE MONEY GO? We had $30 million in commitments but did not receive all of it, talked about the investor not honoring his commitment again, we raised a "significant amount of money, it cost a lot of money to do what we did this year," more rambling about treating the athletes so well with first-class accommodations, "we had capital committed to do the things we did", the investor pulling out made it very difficult, talked about "selling out" Philadelphia (which did NOT happen)

K Dot wrote:

mikehammer wrote:

Is GST profitable

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.

This is my manifesto

K Dot wrote:

mikehammer wrote:

Is GST profitable

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.

This is my manifesto

hereisdastory wrote:

I am willing to bet the entire thing played out something like this

MJ comes up with the idea of GST and thinks with his name and some connections he will be able to make a go of it. Starts shopping around for investors and gets a few people interested

MJ talks Merber into joining the league. Has Kyle convinced he has backers

They know to get things rolling they need some major stars to sign in. MJ reaches out to Keerse and Merber reaches out to Kerr. Keerse loves the idea not only because of the money, but how it involves minimal travel and he can control certain things.

Now is where there were signs this wasn't going to fly

Getting host cities. MJ had originally spoken about 2 dates in Europe and 2 in USA. No European city wanted anything to do with it. Or the cost and red tape for certain European venues was too difficult. They eventually settle on the 4 cities and believe Jamaica will be a great jump off since there are what seems rabid T&F fans there (just look at the Jamaican HS Champs and the National Champs)

All along MJ just had promises of money by investors but either has no real funds or very little on hand. MJ is telling everyone the money is there and they start spending (If you went to any one of the stops you saw lots of wasted money for window dressing). MJ truly believed he had the perfect product and with his name the $ will come

With all the talk of big money pay outs and 1st class treatment a number of stars take the bait.

Jamaica - While almost no tickets were sold ahead of time, GST people were told/or convinced themselves that Jamaicans are a walk up crowd. On the 1st day of the meet the stands would be packed. When they weren't they went into panic mode and started creating different ticket give aways for HS kids and then to just anyone who wanted a ticket. After seeing the failure of Jamaica the major investor pulls out.

MJ still believes the money will come in. And the athletes have no reason YET to believe anything is wrong. They have been flown to Jamaica 1st class and put up in a great hotel.

Stop 2 Miami - A much smaller stadium and people saw the bigs name did in fact show up so people come out. Athletes still assume everything is ok since they are still being treated 1st class. MJ now truly believes with the "success" of the Miami stop money will flow in.

More red flags as the next stops will be cut to 2 days and the change to the 3k/5k program

Stop 3 Philadelphia - with what little money they had GST was able to pay hotel and airfare bills up to this point. Stands are full in Phili much better than most expected. Athletes are still assuming they are getting paid (Why would one of their own, MJ, scam them), but money has run out. Through it all there was money to pay some basic bills but in reality there was no money to pay all the other bills (facility rental, officials, timing co). But through it all MJ is telling everyone all is well (fraud) and is expecting the "success" or Phili will have investors throwing money at the series and that 1 major investor that pulled out will come crawling back.

MJ's ego is on full display the entire series. What other sports league commissioner had so much face time on TV during the event and even in the production?

What little money there was has run out, employees start leaving (betting they were not paid in a while). Total crisis mode.

LA meet is cancelled and now all the stories start to fly about how athletes are not getting paid and then we get to the point we are at now.

Sum up - MJ thought his name carried more weight than it really did. He either had commitments for money to cover year 1 or didn't but had enough to cover some basic bills (hotel and airfare) but kept on telling everyone he had all this cash ready to pay out(100% lie = fraud)

I will bet for the most part Merber was kept in the dark about the bad financial state and trusted and went along with what MJ was telling him

GST is dead. Athletes will either never see any money or only a fraction. MJ is done in the sport of T&F

FatSlowOldGuy wrote:

Wow a lot to reply to here. Obvious that a lot of people haven’t been involved in this sort of start up. First, there is no evidence that the investor acted in bad faith. Almost the opposite. Signed an LOI or term sheet that almost certainly said it wasn’t legally binding and had the right not to invest. Saw the first meet which almost certainly bore no resemblance to what the offering doc suggested the first meet would look like and pulled out.
MJ (who I barely believe a word he’s saying at this point) doesn’t seem to have done anything close to criminal. If the whole thing is fraudulent you’d have to show he never had any intention of paying people. I don’t think there’s any evidence of that either.
Also, almost everyone was represented by a lawyer or agent. I think the strongest lawsuits would be against agents that didn’t ensure there were personal guarantees with the contracts.

MJ also seems very naive. It seems like half of what he is saying is he was treated well enough when he was the biggest star. When Magic and Bird joined the nba they still flew coach. Does MJ really think track is ahead of where the nba was in the 80s

premier league footballers still have a roommate on every trip. Why does he think he can spend money for a room for each athlete when the premier league doesn’t (along with other big league players)

rojo wrote:

This isn't that complicated.

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:

Tweet:x.com/ByCoryMull/status/19481086647928...

hereisdastory wrote:

I am willing to bet the entire thing played out something like this

MJ comes up with the idea of GST and thinks with his name and some connections he will be able to make a go of it. Starts shopping around for investors and gets a few people interested

MJ talks Merber into joining the league. Has Kyle convinced he has backers

They know to get things rolling they need some major stars to sign in. MJ reaches out to Keerse and Merber reaches out to Kerr. Keerse loves the idea not only because of the money, but how it involves minimal travel and he can control certain things.

Now is where there were signs this wasn't going to fly

Getting host cities. MJ had originally spoken about 2 dates in Europe and 2 in USA. No European city wanted anything to do with it. Or the cost and red tape for certain European venues was too difficult. They eventually settle on the 4 cities and believe Jamaica will be a great jump off since there are what seems rabid T&F fans there (just look at the Jamaican HS Champs and the National Champs)

All along MJ just had promises of money by investors but either has no real funds or very little on hand. MJ is telling everyone the money is there and they start spending (If you went to any one of the stops you saw lots of wasted money for window dressing). MJ truly believed he had the perfect product and with his name the $ will come

With all the talk of big money pay outs and 1st class treatment a number of stars take the bait.

Jamaica - While almost no tickets were sold ahead of time, GST people were told/or convinced themselves that Jamaicans are a walk up crowd. On the 1st day of the meet the stands would be packed. When they weren't they went into panic mode and started creating different ticket give aways for HS kids and then to just anyone who wanted a ticket. After seeing the failure of Jamaica the major investor pulls out.

MJ still believes the money will come in. And the athletes have no reason YET to believe anything is wrong. They have been flown to Jamaica 1st class and put up in a great hotel.

Stop 2 Miami - A much smaller stadium and people saw the bigs name did in fact show up so people come out. Athletes still assume everything is ok since they are still being treated 1st class. MJ now truly believes with the "success" of the Miami stop money will flow in.

More red flags as the next stops will be cut to 2 days and the change to the 3k/5k program

Stop 3 Philadelphia - with what little money they had GST was able to pay hotel and airfare bills up to this point. Stands are full in Phili much better than most expected. Athletes are still assuming they are getting paid (Why would one of their own, MJ, scam them), but money has run out. Through it all there was money to pay some basic bills but in reality there was no money to pay all the other bills (facility rental, officials, timing co). But through it all MJ is telling everyone all is well (fraud) and is expecting the "success" or Phili will have investors throwing money at the series and that 1 major investor that pulled out will come crawling back.

MJ's ego is on full display the entire series. What other sports league commissioner had so much face time on TV during the event and even in the production?

What little money there was has run out, employees start leaving (betting they were not paid in a while). Total crisis mode.

LA meet is cancelled and now all the stories start to fly about how athletes are not getting paid and then we get to the point we are at now.

Sum up - MJ thought his name carried more weight than it really did. He either had commitments for money to cover year 1 or didn't but had enough to cover some basic bills (hotel and airfare) but kept on telling everyone he had all this cash ready to pay out(100% lie = fraud)

I will bet for the most part Merber was kept in the dark about the bad financial state and trusted and went along with what MJ was telling him

GST is dead. Athletes will either never see any money or only a fraction. MJ is done in the sport of T&F

MJ should go to prison wrote:

Chafford1 wrote:

Here's the interview:

Video:youtu.be/2LgJLXUZ7-E?si=rEyOJWPnLro0yH...

Did Johnson answer a single question he was asked during this interview? The interviewer's questions were outstanding, direct, appropriate, and made Johnson very uncomfortable.

He should be a politician. He literally danced around every question he was asked, especially the last one where he was directly asked "where did the money go?"

1) Why did you cancel the LA meet? Avoided question. Interviewer followed up:

2) Was that for financial reasons? I just want to be really clear there. Admitted financial difficulties, blamed it on an investor not "honoring their complete commitment" [look on interviewer's face @ 1:31 is priceless], then rambled for two minutes talking about the "amazing season," television broadcasting, social media engagement, getting attention from new investors (whom he did not identify), etc.

3) Who was the investor and how much did they pull out? Avoided question. Did not identify the investor or amount of money.

4) You have millions in payments you owe to vendors and athletes. The deadline has been moved a couple times. Before you can plan for next season, you need to pay off those debts. Are you looking at raising more money from existing investors or looking for new investors? Avoided question. "All of those things" was the only statement he made in response to the question, then rambled on about himself working day and night to solve the problems.

5) I want to understand how we ended up where we are. Were there any mistakes that you or the organization made that led us to this place? Avoided question. Did not identify a single mistake that was made. Simply said we made mistakes just like any startup makes. Rambled about how athletes always critique their own performances, talked about the economy, again mentioned the investor pulling out, "we need to be more cautious."

6) Is there any risk of not moving forward? Is this a bankruptcy situation or we will definitely be back, we just need to reshuffle? Avoided question. "We proved a lot of what we needed to prove in year one." Rambled about the best athletes in the world, how they enjoyed the competition, how GST flew them to the meets and covered all their travel, "helped the athletes build their own brands," we connected with fans, puts us in "great shape for next year." Talked about needed to take care of the athletes and lots of people behind the scenes from this past season, "which we will do, and then we are on to next year."

7) You mentioned the economic picture being a problem, can you be a little more specific? What in the economy are you talking about? Volatility in markets, uncertainty right now, tariffs, rambled about the meets being only four weeks apart was a "furious" pace for the organization, about flying athletes first class plus one, single hotel rooms, treating the athletes better than they are used to, etc.

8) You talked about first-class travel and first-class accommodations, you lined up all these commitments, $30-$40 million depending on the reports, WHERE DID ALL THE MONEY GO? We had $30 million in commitments but did not receive all of it, talked about the investor not honoring his commitment again, we raised a "significant amount of money, it cost a lot of money to do what we did this year," more rambling about treating the athletes so well with first-class accommodations, "we had capital committed to do the things we did", the investor pulling out made it very difficult, talked about "selling out" Philadelphia (which did NOT happen)