Michael Johnson will cancel the fourth and final meet of the inaugural Grand Slam Track season amid financial concerns.
Athletes and their representatives will be updated in a Zoom call on Thursday amid silence in the build-up to the LA leg scheduled for 28-29 June, after competing ‘challenger’ athletes were not announced ahead of time as they were before the previous three meets.
Some of the action has played out in front of half-empty stadiums, and The Independent understands that the economics of the LA event had become unviable. The LA leg will not be replaced with another host city, but organisers remain privately confident that Grand Slam Track will continue in 2026.
Ahead of the opening event in Kingston, Jamaica, Johnson’s co-founder Steve Gera told The Independent that they were “maniacally focused on having the youngest fanbase of any sports league in the world in the next five years”.
The competition was billed as a much-needed shot in the arm for the sport of athletics, although the decision to include only track events and omit field disciplines was met with criticism. “I am going to save what I think I can save,” Johnson explained. “I think I can save track, I don’t think I can save track and field.”
But ticket sales have been slow and sponsorship and broadcast revenues have not met ambitions expectations. The Times reports that organisers will save around £2.2m in prize money and travel expenses by cancelling the Los Angeles event.
Following the first weekend’s races in Jamaica, Grand Slam Track was staged in Miami and Philadelphia.
The star-studded list of athletes – which included US stars Kenny Bednarek, Gabrielle Thomas and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone as well as British names including Josh Kerr and Dina Asher-Smith – competed in two linked events, such as 100m and 200m sprints, with results combined to calculate the winners in each category. First-placed prize money stood at $100,000, with $50,000 for runners-up and $10,000 for eighth place.
Grand Slam Track is set to officially confirm the fate of the LA event later on Thursday. Organisers declined to comment.
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