LRC add. So here is the schedule for 2025:
Kingston – April 4-6
Miami – May 2-4
Philadelphia – May 30-June 1
Los Angeles – TBD
This sports examiner article says the final date will come out on Friday and it will be in June.
Well, maybe the "new global league" is more global in terms of possible athletes and/or viewers. Certainly not going to be geographically spread across the globe.
Also, while the "racers" (=contracted runners) were always going to be mainly American and Caribbean based, it seems that that will probably be true for most of the "challengers" ...
It looks like all four meets will be held in a span of about 2 to 2.5 months (we'll see when the LA meet is actually scheduled). That's a lot of racing. Hope it doesn't hurt them for the 2025 WC.
awesome news! love the emphasis on the east coast fans - much easier for everyone to get to philly than eugene.
ladedah wrote:
It looks like all four meets will be held in a span of about 2 to 2.5 months (we'll see when the LA meet is actually scheduled). That's a lot of racing. Hope it doesn't hurt them for the 2025 WC.
The first three are each four weeks apart.
LA will be the final meet in the series. Following the pattern, it will probably be held June 27-29.
LMAO — are they really not hosting a meeting in Europe? The only region that can consistently fill a stadium for athletics? What a whiff. I think East Coast deserves a shot, and Kingston/LA are fine… but MIAMI???
it should’ve been:
LA
Oslo
Kingston
Philly
For those wondering what happened to the UK, here is an article on it.
UK Athletics reportedly turned down an offer to be the fourth city due to financial concerns. From the article:
The UKA’s chief executive, Jack Buckner, said its difficult financial situation meant it would be focusing on making the Diamond League in London profitable, as well as a potential bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships. “We’re positive about Michael Johnson’s format,” he said. “But three days of just track athletics is a lot of tickets to sell in the London Stadium and the cost base comes pretty high there. They did approach us and we had a really good discussion with them. We would like to have a bigger, more comprehensive events portfolio, but we want that built on strong foundations that are sustainable."
The article notes that UKA had a financial loss of £1.2m or more in each of the last two fiscal years.
Still waiting for LA info. I wonder what's the delay?
951Mike wrote:
Still waiting for LA info. I wonder what's the delay?
The press release for Philadelphia states that the location and date for the LA meet will be announced tomorrow. I think they just like to have a separate announcement for each city.
This is doomed to fail wrote:
LMAO — are they really not hosting a meeting in Europe? The only region that can consistently fill a stadium for athletics? What a whiff. I think East Coast deserves a shot, and Kingston/LA are fine… but MIAMI???
it should’ve been:
LA
Oslo
Kingston
Philly
I hear you on Miami. They can't even fill the stadium for Marlins games, and baseball is more popular in the US than track. That said, I think Miami has appeal for organizers due to its close proximity to Latin America and the Caribbean and having many residents with ties to those areas. GST is banking on the likes of Marileidy Paulino, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Alison dos Santos, Luis Grijalva, Jereem Richards, Ackera Nugent, and others being draws in Miami. If they can get other Caribbean stars such as Shericka Jackson, Julien Alfred, and Steven Gardiner, that would help.
Too bad GST doesn't have field events. Yulimar Rojas competing in Miami could be fun to see.
I see that these meets are 3 day events. Let’s say you only want to see Grant Fisher race. Will it be possible to see in advance of ticket sales on which of the three days he will run? Will there be a schedule of which events will be held on which day in a particular city?
Barabbas wrote:
I see that these meets are 3 day events. Let’s say you only want to see Grant Fisher race. Will it be possible to see in advance of ticket sales on which of the three days he will run? Will there be a schedule of which events will be held on which day in a particular city?
I would imagine they'd post the full meet schedule in advance of ticket sales, but not sure. If they don't, the good news is each athlete will double, so if you only bought tickets for one day, you'd have a 2 out of the 3 chance of seeing your favorite athlete run.
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.
GST tried for Europe but got blocked. The result is more elite track in the USA where it’s needed. and Great having Jamaica kick it off.
Being named “ grand slam” in two countries is a little laughable but at least they tried.
C/M Runner wrote:
I had very good information 6 weeks ago that the venues were LA, Kingston, NYC and Birmingham - obviously this didn't play out but it's become clear why (and do some digging the last few days this is what I heard).
Birmingham (via UKA) as we know after the press release, pulled the plug after doing their diligence on the realities of a 3 day meet. London was never in the equation as the DL meet there is too good and not worth messing with.
New York similar situation and even though this was logistically easier because it's in the US, the costs of running a 3 day meet in NYC - especially the city, were also astronomical (which of course makes sense).
So you have Miramar and Philadelphia as the bail-out venues just so they can get this off the ground, but clearly this concept is already teetering. No European meet is catastrophic because Europe is obviously the heart of pro track and field and has the most exposure, heritage and credibility. You have called yourself the Grand Slam of Track and used pro tennis as your comparison model - but the Grand Slams in tennis are literally their best tournaments (apologies to Indian Wells) and in their best cities.
There was zero buy in from the old European guard. Zero. And I find it personally laughable they thought they ever would get that (early talk of Zurich, Brussels, Monaco etc???, come on).
Now we basically have a glorified VISA championship series - yes much more money, but let's see how long this lasts.
Salvitore Stitchmo wrote:
I had very good information 6 weeks ago that the venues were LA, Kingston, NYC and Birmingham - obviously this didn't play out but it's become clear why (and do some digging the last few days this is what I heard).
Birmingham (via UKA) as we know after the press release, pulled the plug after doing their diligence on the realities of a 3 day meet. London was never in the equation as the DL meet there is too good and not worth messing with.
New York similar situation and even though this was logistically easier because it's in the US, the costs of running a 3 day meet in NYC - especially the city, were also astronomical (which of course makes sense).
So you have Miramar and Philadelphia as the bail-out venues just so they can get this off the ground, but clearly this concept is already teetering. No European meet is catastrophic because Europe is obviously the heart of pro track and field and has the most exposure, heritage and credibility. You have called yourself the Grand Slam of Track and used pro tennis as your comparison model - but the Grand Slams in tennis are literally their best tournaments (apologies to Indian Wells) and in their best cities.
There was zero buy in from the old European guard. Zero. And I find it personally laughable they thought they ever would get that (early talk of Zurich, Brussels, Monaco etc???, come on).
Now we basically have a glorified VISA championship series - yes much more money, but let's see how long this lasts.
I'm with you on the challenges of a 3-day format. I wish it was just a series of 1-day meets.
Re: the old European guard, I think it's ok that they don't want GST (or in the UK's case, don't have the funding for it). Europe doesn't really need any more track. They are well-covered with the Diamond League and other meets. By having all the GST events in the US and Jamaica, there's a better overall balance of track action between the Western and Eastern hemispheres.
Sure to be the athletes in lane 1 or 2 in the 200 or 400 at Franklin Field. If you know the venue you know what I am talking about
McRunnin wrote:
I'm with you on the challenges of a 3-day format. I wish it was just a series of 1-day meets.
Re: the old European guard, I think it's ok that they don't want GST (or in the UK's case, don't have the funding for it). Europe doesn't really need any more track. They are well-covered with the Diamond League and other meets. By having all the GST events in the US and Jamaica, there's a better overall balance of track action between the Western and Eastern hemispheres.
Sure it's okay for them - I don't see how it's okay for Grand Slam Track. You are selling yourself as the premier, "best of the best", athletics series on the planet and you don't even have a meet on the continent where the sport matters the most and is most feverishly supported?
Right now as I am picturing these meets, I am seeing the hard-cam view of the stadium (you know the one basically at the start finish line that the captures the majority of every race) panning out to show a stand-less back straight with about 150 standing up against a chain link fence (Drake stadium) or the classic high school metal bleachers half empty (Ansin stadium). Kingston has never been able to fill their stadium for even the one day meet they have there and now they really need it done 3 times. Ironically Philly has the best chance of being their premier meet because of Franklin field but as we also know, the vast majority of the spectators there are the kids that actually run in the meet. And also - it's Philadelphia man - that's a C level city for track and field.
I have said this from the start, MJ got way out over his skis here. He could have tried to partner with WA and the DL to add money and an interesting format twist to say 4 meets (like the old Golden Four) and maybe put on a final (because lets be honest the worst part of the Diamond League is the "final" itself which makes no sense). Instead he not only tries to start 4 meets in a very tough market, he makes them each 3 days long which puts massive stress on not only the infrastructure and organization of the meets but surely dilutes spectator desirability.
We know who the contenders are. Any idea on who the challengers will be? are they going after guys like Nico Young, Graham Blanks, etc? Are the challengers in for all four races or will they rotate based on location?
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