Tick! Tick! Tick! 8 days 14 hours 20 minutes and 17 seconds as of March 26, 2025, before the next slam takes place in Kingston, the very place that has the honor of having a statue of the greatest sprinter of all time, Usain Bolt. The likes of Noah Lyles, Sha’Carri Richardson, Keely Hodgkinson, and many more might not be seen leaving a trail of smoke and competitors behind on the track, but there are plenty of others who participated. 96, to be precise. Makes you wonder, what exactly is the USP of Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track?
“Yeah, we’ve attracted our racers to our league, to Grand Slam, by giving them what they’ve always wanted and what athletes in other sports want.” Michael Johnson said in the latest video posted over the YouTube channel, Jamaica. And what else would an athlete want? Well, of course, other than the Olympic medal, they don’t run houses, money does. The 4 times Olympic champion said, “What our athletes in track have always wanted is to be compensated fairly for their talent and their value.”
And when it comes to track and field, that is a rarity. Pointing out the athlete’s urge to be on a bigger stage, Michael draws parallels from other sports and says, “If you think about athletes in other individual sports, UFC, for example, or tennis or golf, those athletes get, you know, multiple opportunities every year to compete on a grand stage where there is major television exposure, where there is big prize money. And its important moments that the world stops to watch.” Fair enough, we get it. You don’t even need global names to bring an audience for a UFC show and they are paid millions.
When does that opportunity come for track and field athletes? The Olympian has the answer. He said, “Our athletes in track have only gotten that once every four years, whereas athletes and their compatriots in other sports get that multiple times a year.” He is clearly referring to the Olympics but the four year gap is just too much, careers can be made and finished in those years. And that is what Grand Slam track tackles, “So what we have created with Grand Slam track is an opportunity for track athletes, the best athletes, to have that opportunity multiple times a year to compete against their rivals, to compete for big prize money, to be compensated fairly, and to have it televised globally in over 100 countries.”
Broadcast partners have rolled in for GST from different parts of the world and the prize money is just insane, he continues, “the highest prize money ever awarded in the sport, and $100,000 for our first place finisher and $10,000 for our eighth place finisher.” But wait wait wait !!! not just for the winner, Grand Slam Track has something for everybody, like “our racers, of which we’ve signed 48 to our league, also are guaranteed a base compensation for their participation.” But it’s not just the athletes Johnson is keen on satisfying.
He further told, “We also are able to, in turn, guarantee to fans and our broadcast partners that we have the best athletes competing against one another, you know, four times every year. ” Now instead of watching your two favorite athletes hit godspeed on the track against each other once every four years, what you can now enjoy is a fourth time every year.
Michael Johnson proves Noah Lyles wrong with broadcast partners for GST
Back when Noah Lyles was offered to be a part of the grand slam track, he only had two concerns. Money and Television. He said, “The problem with our sport right now is we have great performances, but nobody is able to see it. So until I’m able to hear that TV sponsor, I don’t know that I can make a decision on that yet because we could have the greatest performances at the Grand Slam Track, but if a tree falls in the middle of the woods and nobody’s there to see it, did it fall?”
Turn to March 2025, there’s rarely a part in the USA, Europe, and Asia that the tracks of GST won’t reach to. The CW Network, NBC and Peacock are taking care of the getting the race to the eyes of US watchers while the European audience will be taken care of by Eurosport, TNT Sports will provide coverage in the UK and Ireland.
Now, despite the history between Noah and Michael Johnson, the former did share an announcement of the media deal from Grand Slam Track on X. Don’t rule the 100m olympian out of it yet cause he can still race to the tracks of the Grand Slam Track since he can participate as a challenger in the event even now. Do let us know what you think of the Olympian coming to the GST?
The post Not Noah Lyles & Co., Michael Johnson Breaks Down Why Top Athletes Have Signed with Grand Slam Track appeared first on EssentiallySports.
