Michael Johnson pressed when asked how Grand Slam will make money

Based on his past reputation I was expecting him to be legitimately angry and aggressive. His answer was fine, really.

Lol. His answer was pretty standard. Also, “mansplains” might be the worst word ever created. Literally makes no sense.

personally i can't see any offering of success in this niche low interest sport

now athletics and running has great potential, its recognized as the purest sport, a foundation, to build upon.

if this venture survives the season that is a win.

as a startup you don't make money

MJ is doing a great thing for the sport attempting this. even if it fails, it helps the sport.

i'd like to see some novelty events, like best thrower ... all throws best jumper all jumps,

i'd like to see the top 1500 guys race a 400 or 200m or ....

400 hurdlers vs 800 runners in a 600m

top 100 guys compete in a 400 ...

top hurdler 110 400 and steeple.

i guess i've gone to far by now.

Why do you say Michael Johnson is such a person?

This is reminiscent of the movie The Slammin’ Salmon starring Michael Clarke Duncan as a dumb former heavy weight boxer who owns a restaurant. Michael Johnson is a pure imbecile. He has no idea what he is doing. The amazing thing is that is he has been able to lure investors into believing this ridiculous series is going to make money. It’s like being hoodwinked by a grocery clerk.

Did you expect him to shelaborate instead?

I think his response was fine. And hey, it’s not an easy question to answer because I think the simple answer to this is, unless he is getting jam packed stadiums for this inaugural season he’s going to struggle to get viewer interest outside of running nerds like us, and that of course is intrinsically linked with sponsorship and an actually lucrative TV deal which is the only way he will make money.

And I believe that given his format and the expectations on fans actually in his stadiums, this will be very hard to achieve.

He needs/needed a European venue. They tried for Birmingham but “someone” or “something” made sure that didn’t happen. Without at least one this concept is on borrowed time.

I think it’s literally just when a man explains something? Kind of ironic how the kind of person who uses the term “mansplain” is also usually the same person heavily pushing gender equality, then just dumping on men. Typical 🥱

It's a fair response, Jon's question comes across as assuming this will fail.

Maybe it will! But I'd rather everyone give it a shot than continue down the path of funding the sport through Chinese and Middle Eastern meets with no local athletes.

The only thing I'm certain of is Michael Johnson has been off roids for quite a while.

I am certain the response to this will be “Good riddance.” but I came on here - & yes, naively - to get excited about the potential of a different format for track. & it’s already cynicism, slander & hate.
Nice party, y’all got here, Brojos.
I’m out.

That was a genuine smile he shared with JG at the end of his answer, then answered his next question politely. Nothing to see here.

Michael Johnson was absolutely NOT a jerk in his prime. He had a reputation in Waco for being super nice and approachable. There was a summer track club that worked out at the Baylor track in the early evenings as he was finishing his workouts with Clyde Hart, and he always let the 100ish kids work out. The summer track club coaches would emphasize that very few track stars would allow that.

I had a friend from another state who was taking pictures of him while he was working out, and Michael Johnson got pissed at first because he thought he was a paparazzi. Once he realized it was just a goofy fan, he politely explained why he was upset and told him to just ask next time and he would have said "yes".

He was a super serious nerd who wore a suit and carried a briefcase in high school, but he didn't expect others to think like him. Nice, humble, cool.

it is a high school meet on steroids

the only way to save track is to embrace the mass-participation aspect with a fair rating system.

Golf is the world's most popular sport because of this. Everyone knows their handicap. That's their bragging rights.

Road racing kind of gets this, when they post the full results and you get to see exactly how close you are to the top. And others see it too. So like golf, everyone gets to win and lose, and have some skin in the game.

The solution is a national track leaderboard. Someone gather all the result from every certified meet everywhere, into one big standard list. And promote it heavily, on world athletics, on a dedicated website. I know their are some low budget sites that already do this, but they don't get everyone, and they don't promote it well, and they don't compile it all into one single list per event.

If I could be the #5000 800m guy out of 50000 names on the list, I'd do it. That would make it worth the training. And that would vastly increase my interest in the elites at the top of the list too.

That's an unfair question. We all know the money is spent on athlete appearance fees, hotels, food, massages, prix money, timing company, janitors, etc. The officials, TV cameramen, reporters, flash quotes, track crews, etc. are ex-athletes with real jobs outside of sports and volunteer to give back to the sport and do something nice for the kids.