Grand Slam Track is a disaster - The general premise of Grand Slam Track was bad

The entire structure of the meets are set up extremely poorly. And apparently, the overall situation isn't looking too great as it's reported to be losing a significant amount of money. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it manages to pull through until it reaches LA.

I'll be sure and stop by Oil Changers where TTUSA volunteers all work during 8-5 when I'm in Eugene the next time for sure!

Track is a niche sport in the US. Many fans cannot grasp that fact.

I don't think it was promising and is now a disaster. It's going about how I expected. They pushed money first and hoped the hype would follow, but it takes time to build a brand. They'll run out of money before it becomes a big thing.

Yup the idea was off. The one good thing MJ was good at was raising money. But his vision sucks and actually hurts the sport

The set up and ideas behind it was terrible

As a 59yo man who's competed in, coach, officiated, and been a fan at all levels since the mid-1970s (yes, I'm an old fart), I concur that T&F is a NICHE sport in the US and always WILL BE.

Nobody cares about distance runners or races. Stop crying so much. You're giving the perfect example for why it's not popular at all. Just a bunch of crybabies. I'm glad they cut it out. The majority of track fans can tell you who has the 100m world record but barely anyone knows who has the 10,000m record.

Wow. Says the guy who is spending his time posting on a distance running website message board. I bet you hate rock music and have a subscription to Rolling Stone Magazine or better yet, you likely hate Italian food but eat four times a week at Olive Garden. After 20 years on this site, I've yet to understand you people.

Despite all the noise and fanfare, the public don’t actually care about track and field. They’ll turn up for the Olympic sprints, that’s about it.

No regular joe cares about 400, 800 or 1500. Occasionally a personality will break through and help raise the stakes.

But on the whole, it’s small time.

No one has cracked Hollywood with at 95.2% TV entertainment market share.

I appreciate the intent of Michael Johnson and team, as any niche sport needs people willing to take risks to try and push the sport forward. And I like Kyle Merber and think he generally has had good thoughts over the years on what track/running needs to do to enter the mainstream, so him signing on somewhat helped validate to me that Grand Slam Track could be legit.

But I just don't get how Grand Slam Track's current format is one that would attract anyone who's not already a serious running fan. And I was slightly put off when they started making big announcements every time they signed an athlete to join. I get that you need to create hype/branding around the league somehow, but the whole point of Grand Slam Track and the only way it's ever a success is if it's something top runners find prestigious and automatically gravitate toward (think the tennis/golf majors, which Grand Slam Track is clearly trying to model after). Making big announcements that you "signed" X top athlete goes against that narrative.

The only format that might actually get the mainstream population to care about watching professional running is if you lean into the aspect of running that actually makes it unique compared to other niche sports - there are an egregious number of people who run who currently do not watch professional running. Why would someone not set up meets where the general public can go run a mile around a track and then after several general public heats you have the pros do it at the end? It's like a major marathon except the normal runners can actually watch the pros and directly compare how they felt during the run to how the pros look in the same race on the same track on the same day. The general running population genuinely has no idea how impressive these athletes are, and this would help with that. Is this something that's been tried already?

Even if that doesn't work, I think it's more unique and has a better shot than expecting non-running fans to watch 2 days of athletes run one event that they're good at and one event that they're not as good at.

Unfortunately Michael Johnson made it about him and his name. He should of raised the money and let the right people make the decisions, not him

Honestly, the idea of Grand Slam Track wasn’t bad. The sport clearly needs a new format—because the current model isn’t doing much to grow the audience or bring in new fans.
But like most things, they got some funding, and the people who ended up with that funding—nice as they may be—don’t actually understand entertainment. They don’t understand storytelling.

I know people in LA who’ve worked on massive shows—producers, writers, camera crew, lighting techs. People who build narratives for a living. Some of them submitted resumes. Not one got a callback. Not even a conversation. These are people who could’ve helped shape the narrative of the sport in a way that actually connects with viewers.

Because let’s be honest: if you’re just slapping a new name on the same race format without building any kind of story arc or emotional investment, then what’s the point? It’s still just another meet. Just another Diamond League with a rebrand.

If you want this to work, you need to think like entertainment professionals do. Build characters. Lean into archetypes. Make each athlete a story, not just a stat. Map out a season arc like it’s a show. Use commentary and social media to frame rivalries, comebacks, redemption stories.

Otherwise, you’re asking people to tune into a sport they don’t understand, for athletes they’ve never heard of, with no reason to care who wins.

And that’s not a Grand Slam. That’s just another heat.

B

I have about 10 yrs on you Javman and completely agree. Trying to make our sport a huge money maker is a mistake. It's not going to happen. Runners regardless of their classificatoin HS, College, Pros now think they are all worth millions for their efforts. They are not.

It's a niche sport everywhere

Grand Slam Track = No distance or field events (the 5,000m was axed), takes 2 - 3 days for some reason, has awful commentary and half-full stadiums.

Diamond League = Two hour commercial-free meets that cover all discipline categories, no heats and has great commentary, especially now that NBC doesn't own the rights.

Michael Johnson could learn from the Diamond League. Maybe it's just arrogance.

If he's just gonna copy DL it might as well not exist; which it won't in two years max.

Ideas for Grand Slam:

Have a stated world record attempt at each meet for one event, with pacemakers and lights.

Do one "odd distance match" race per meet. Gabby Thomas versus Sydney at 300M.

Have a 400m with a one turn stagger, something I have always thought would quickly become the most exciting even in track.

Throw in a HS event each meet: get the best milers in the country against each other.