Coe has spoken to athletes, representatives and meeting directors. Mentioned the Athletics Integrity Unit.
World Athletics supported GST concept and are prepared to give MJ time to sort out the payments.
Zharnel Hughes who competed at the Kingston GST meeting in April, said he hadn't received his GST payments when asked at the London DL meeting on Saturday.
World Athletic president Sebastian Coe said: ‘It’s not good’ as athletes wait on payments from the series, which was cut from four meetings to three last month
Are all athletes agents “real agents”? By that I mean do they even know the basics like getting personal guarantees when dealing with startups. I get the impression some of them only work in track and field and don’t really bring much to the table. For instance, if they sign a contract with say the Paris diamond league is a French lawyer involved or do they just shortcut that. I realize there’s not a lot of money in track and field and there are times it makes sense to shortcut it.
Are all athletes agents “real agents”? By that I mean do they even know the basics like getting personal guarantees when dealing with startups. I get the impression some of them only work in track and field and don’t really bring much to the table. For instance, if they sign a contract with say the Paris diamond league is a French lawyer involved or do they just shortcut that. I realize there’s not a lot of money in track and field and there are times it makes sense to shortcut it.
Nike Beaverton allegedly started GST to upend WA and DL and replace their tradition as feudal Era charity meets with Nike's cheap Asian labor model. India is where Nike exploits it's TV and Media resources these days for $2 per hour.
Why the hell was prize money not put in escrow first? The athletes and their agents should have demanded it and gotten personal guarantees.
I personally don't believe they ever had the $30 million that they claimed to have. They had promises of money but not the actual money. I think Johnson's arrogance concerning his "greatest track league in the world" lead him to believe that he would have sold out stadiums and tremendous merchandise sales, which would ultimately provide them the money to pay the athletes. Of course, neither happened and here we are.
Why the hell was prize money not put in escrow first? The athletes and their agents should have demanded it and gotten personal guarantees.
I personally don't believe they ever had the $30 million that they claimed to have. They had promises of money but not the actual money. I think Johnson's arrogance concerning his "greatest track league in the world" lead him to believe that he would have sold out stadiums and tremendous merchandise sales, which would ultimately provide them the money to pay the athletes. Of course, neither happened and here we are.
Reality. Like a kick in the crotch and nobody to bail you out. Ouch! Michael, lived the way you won and broke records. Who were your lawyers/advisors on this venture? Win or lose, you assumed all the risk? Life changing either way.
I've watched a couple Continental Tour meets, Lussane and Madrid. A few superstars but mostly up and comers like our Sunset Tour. What are their business models? Not very well attended either but meet records were pretty salty.
Johnson went for it to provide top competition and entertainment. Obviously, something went horribly wrong. Can a real tour of top athletes ever be formed in America? Or is there truly just not that much interest? I'm sadly thinking the latter.
In addition to the financial bomb, I would never have started in Jamaica. LA/Stanford, FL, D-FW, Chicago, Franklin Field etc.. Large track population areas that are warmer climates or at times where the calendar says the weather is warmer. I'm even ok with their event selection and setup without field events to get the project off the ground.
Someone mentioned in another post that hotels and accommodations were over extravagant. Starting out could be in the red at first season end and be normal but you still have to go with a shoestring budget until it gets off the ground. Promises were too big to be made trying to pull athletes from DL in first year didn't go so well. Relying on a product that won't be in its top condition or possibly even injured doesn't help either but many of the races were competitive and fast. Penn and FL crowds were ok. Maybe rotate the bigger prize events but still make it worth the other event athletes time as well. But NEVER go without money in hand first. Geesh! Ive built my business up over decades to where advertising isn't needed and there's a long waiting list. Nothing starts without earnest money first, then installments through progress. No money, project stops, Next Up! Demand is higher than the supply. The athletes were possibly acting in good faith but irresponsible as professionals that should always protects themselves. IF they had, maybe this project would have had to wait a year but it would have been done right. So I think there's plenty of blame to go around and a lot of losers. Hopefully, they can try again as 2028 is rocketing toward us. If it doesn't happen next year, it's over. Back to every 4 years of interest in USA and DL/WC format. Too bad for both American athletes and fans. Niche sport status isn't something to be real proud of but for some reason we still have the best Track and Field team the world has ever seen. Maybe we are just ok with that?
I personally don't believe they ever had the $30 million that they claimed to have. They had promises of money but not the actual money. I think Johnson's arrogance concerning his "greatest track league in the world" lead him to believe that he would have sold out stadiums and tremendous merchandise sales, which would ultimately provide them the money to pay the athletes. Of course, neither happened and here we are.
He made the arrogant mistake of counting his chickens before they hatched. He believed his idea was so profound and innovative that the act of putting it out there for the world to experience would generate enough revenue to keep the league self-sufficient. In fact he believed it would be able to subsidize it’s own growth as he kept repeatedly claiming “this is just the start”.
So many oversights and all of the GST top brass was so infatuated with their own concept that they denied reality and claimed they had it under control until the roof came crashing in prior to GST LA. Fyre Festival really should have taught these people something. Horrible financial mismanagement and overestimations all around for a festival that promised the world. It was too good to be true, imagine that.
I made the point a while back that it would do more harm than good for the current highest profile athletes like Jakob and Lyles to be associated with an amateur hour cash grab like the GST, and I'm being proven more and more correct as time goes on.
This post was edited 20 seconds after it was posted.
yeah i paid a guy to finish my basement never saw him after I gave him the earnest money. no actually I did see him. he was buying supplies at Home Depot for his other jobs with my earnest money. lol.
Are all athletes agents “real agents”? By that I mean do they even know the basics like getting personal guarantees when dealing with startups. I get the impression some of them only work in track and field and don’t really bring much to the table. For instance, if they sign a contract with say the Paris diamond league is a French lawyer involved or do they just shortcut that. I realize there’s not a lot of money in track and field and there are times it makes sense to shortcut it.
It is called the "Old Boy Network" though in track they tend to be thin (couldn't resist the handle). T&F is a tightly controlled cabal. The agents are part of the "ecosystem".
It is has always been a niche sport in this country and we should accept that it can only be a niche sport. It is not F1, tennis or golf. It has multiple events, with star athletes truly from all over the world. For GST to exclude the field events showed a lot. For most Jamaican sprinters to not be involved with the Jamaican meet showed a lot. The interest will spike after each Olympics, like it always has, but it doesn’t mean that it’s enough to sustain a league.
I personally don't believe they ever had the $30 million that they claimed to have. They had promises of money but not the actual money. I think Johnson's arrogance concerning his "greatest track league in the world" lead him to believe that he would have sold out stadiums and tremendous merchandise sales, which would ultimately provide them the money to pay the athletes. Of course, neither happened and here we are.
He made the arrogant mistake of counting his chickens before they hatched. He believed his idea was so profound and innovative that the act of putting it out there for the world to experience would generate enough revenue to keep the league self-sufficient. In fact he believed it would be able to subsidize it’s own growth as he kept repeatedly claiming “this is just the start”.
So many oversights and all of the GST top brass was so infatuated with their own concept that they denied reality and claimed they had it under control until the roof came crashing in prior to GST LA. Fyre Festival really should have taught these people something. Horrible financial mismanagement and overestimations all around for a festival that promised the world. It was too good to be true, imagine that.
Come on man, this is black wall street and Wakanda all over again.
Coe has spoken to athletes, representatives and meeting directors. Mentioned the Athletics Integrity Unit.
World Athletics supported GST concept and are prepared to give MJ time to sort out the payments.
Zharnel Hughes who competed at the Kingston GST meeting in April, said he hadn't received his GST payments when asked at the London DL meeting on Saturday.
Extra, extra: Lord Coe thinks athletes should be paid as promised.
Pretty sure MJ feels the same.
Seems like a nothingburger. 🥱
Many athletes have confirmed that the Diamond League often doesn't pay out until Nov-Dec.
All of these Gen Z athletes are publicly whining, while in MJ's time a runner might not get paid until 6-9 months after a Golden League meet.
I knew someone who ran the Euro circuit around the same time as MJ. He reported that on more than one occasion he got paid cash the evening after his races.
That doesn't mean that was everyone's experience, but, 6+ months to get paid for a race? Seems kind of silly.
