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?