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American sprint legend Michael Johnson launched his Grand Slam Track, his professional track league, and here are seven things to know about the league including the prize money.
Four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson has officially launched the Grand Slam Track, his professional track league that will look to assemble the best sprinters and distance runners for four meets in 2025.
Johnson expressed his excitement towards the launch of the track league, that will offer millions of prize money to the athletes. It will also be an exciting scene for track and field fans to watch rivalries with sprinters and middle-distance runners.
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1) How it started
In an interview with Citius Mag, Johnson disclosed that many people had challenged him to get involved with the sport. He does not fancy the structure of the sport that revolves around federations that organise what will happen.
“When we had that conversation and in a lot of conversations that I’ve had over the years, people have asked me to get involved in the current structure of the sport.
“The current structure of the sport revolves around all of the federations that are intimately involved in the organization of the sport.
“That’s not a structure I thrive in. I’ve been an entrepreneur for the last 24 years since I retired and that’s an area that I thrive in – commercialized businesses and ventures,” he said.
He added that after selling his company some time ago, he managed to figure out what to do next and that’s how he came up with the Grand Slam Track.
2) How it will operate
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As per Citius Mag, all four meets are set to host 96 athletes and Johnson and his team aim to reach 48 athletes as their core runners.
A total of 96 athletes will be hosted in each of the four meets and Johnson disclosed that they aim to contract 48 athletes as their core racers with all of them set to receive annual base compensation for racing and they will also be eligible to earn additional prize money.
However, for them to receive the whole amount of money, all the racers must be available in all four Slams. In addition to that, the other 48 runners will come as challengers and each of them will be paid an appearance fee. The challengers will be selected based on their recent performances and they are eligible for full prize money as well.
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“It’s different from current track and field but very similar to thriving professional sports where there is a league and that is what Grand Slam Track is. We are a league of athletes. The best of the best. The best in the world. A very exclusive group of the best, fastest and most popular athletes in the world,” Johnson told Citius Mag.
The categories include the short sprints (100m / 200m), short hurdles (100m hurdles (F) or 110m hurdles (M) / 100 meters), long sprints (200m / 400m), long hurdles (400m hurdles / 400m), short distance (800m / 1500m) and long distance (3000m/5000m)
Points Table
• First place – 10 points
• Second place – 8 points
• Third place – 6 points
• Fourth place – 5 points
• Fifth place – 4 points
• Sixth place – 3 points
• Seventh place – 2 points
• Eighth place – 1 point
3) Not the same as the Diamond League
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In the Diamond League, each meet has different runners and some of the athletes only make appearances once or twice and if they attain a podium finish, they are eligible to prize money.
However, the Grand Slam Track is focused more on head-to-head competition among the best athletes instead of just having any athletes compete and post faster times. All the four events will meet World Athletics regulations so that performances will be eligible for ranking points and standards.
“The reason I don’t see ourselves as a competitor is compared to anything else out there… what we’re bringing is very unique and it’s its own thing.
“There were like 2,500 athletes that competed at the World Championships in Budapest last year. That’s 2,500 basically professional athletes in the sport. You do need a lot of meets to satisfy that number of athletes.
“I don’t think people understand how many people are considered professional and elite in this sport. You have to have a lot of meets because those people need somewhere to compete. Our athletes are the best of the best… Nothing exists until now that gives them their own unique and exclusive league for them to compete in,” he added.
Johnson also explained that the racers will not have any aid including rabbits or pace lights and no bibs will be utilised and racers will compete in their own sponsored kits.
4) Prize money
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The winner of each Slam category will earn Ksh 12.9 million ($100,000) in prize money and if an athlete wins all four events in the course of a season, they are eligible to earn Ksh 51.7 million ($400,000).
Athletes who finish second and third will pocket Ksh 6.5 million and Ksh 3.9 million with the athletes who finish fourth and fifth earning Ksh 3.2 million and Ksh 2.6 million. The sixth-place finishers and seventh-place finishers will walk away with Ksh 1.9 million and Ksh 1.6 million. The athletes who finish eighth will pocket Ksh 1.3 million.
“The track and field rich certainly aren’t as rich as the best athletes in the world in other sports and that’s what I’m here to change. I’ve seen the frustration.
“The athletes are the best in the world. Not only are they not compensated in that way because there is no structure to do so but they’re not recognized as well as they should be for their greatness whereas their cohorts in other sports are at a much greater scale.
“I’ve seen the frustration as well with fans because they’re supporting those athletes. They love those athletes and then they find out, ‘Oh! My favourite athlete is financially struggling and they’re the best in the world,” he said.
5) No field events
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Johnson explained that they will be handling one event at a time, one of the main reasons why they will not host field events.
“We will never stray from that. The athletes in those different events, in order for them to be on that stage that we want them on, they deserve to have our undivided attention on them.
“In that two-and-a-half-hour window, which is our live television/broadcast and live in-person event window, we can’t put field events in there and fit it in, if we’re going to do one event at a time and that’s something that we are adamant about,” Johnson added.
6) Venue
Johnson explained that two of the events will happen in the US with Los Angeles being revealed as one of the host cities. The American legend added that the other three host cities will be announced later this summer.
“The U.S. is a real opportunity for us. That’s something that’s been talked about for quite some time. Seb Coe and World Athletics want to grow the sport and need the sport to grow in the U.S. and that’s something we’re trying to focus on to help grow the sport,” he added.
7) How to Watch
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There is no way on how to watch the event but the American sprint legend has a vision on changing the current trends of watching sports.
He noted that they plan to present the sport in a modern way that allows the fan to understand the dynamics of the sport and to be able to get entertained and added that the league would be open to partnerships and opportunities for emerging content creators.
“That’s being able to have time during our broadcasts to be able to set up the races, bring people in and help them understand the players, the athletes and their stories, why they’re here and why they have an opportunity to win this.
“Then, letting that race take place and then allowing us to celebrate that race on the other side. The avid fan is already invested in the athlete and wants that athlete to win, we want that casual fan to have that same feeling,” he said.
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