The Japan Times - Athletics world watching as 'Grand Slam Track' prepares for launch

Four-time Olympic gold medallist Johnson believes the four-event circuit represents a landmark moment for track and field, a bold new attempt to reinvigorate interest in the sport after years of decline.

Johnson, 57, says the format of his new circuit –- which promises to create more head-to-head races between the world's best track athletes -- represents a winning formula that will bring eyeballs back to athletics outside the pinnacle of Olympic competition.

"People love racing. People want to see the best of the best. And at the core of Grand Slam Track is the best of the best athletes, only the fastest, competing head-to-head against one another four times a year," Johnson said of his new circuit last year.

"My objective is to create the opportunities that athletes have always wanted and to put them on a stage that is worthy of their greatness, with races that mean something."

Fittingly, the action gets under way in Jamaica, long-regarded as the spiritual home of sprinting, before moving to meetings in Miami (May 2-4), Philadelphia (May 30-June 1) and Los Angeles (June 27-29).

- Prize money bonanza -

Uniquely, Grand Slam Track has 48 athletes under contract who will be present at all four competitions, with 48 "challengers" joining the field at each event.

The 96 athletes (48 women, 48 men) are divided by specialty into 12 groups of eight, each participating in two races over the three-day meeting.

The financial stakes for participating athletes are attractive, with prize money ranging from $100,000 for the winner of each group to $10,000 for runners-up.

This week's opening leg in Kingston will feature some 32 medalists from the Paris Olympics, including the likes of American women's 400m hurdles star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas.

But in a significant blow to Johnson's hopes of attracting the "best of the best" in their respective events, neither of the reigning Olympic 100m champions – US sprinter Noah Lyles and Saint Lucia's Julien Alfred – are in the field.

Sha'Carri Richardson, the reigning women's 100m world champion and runner-up in Paris, and men's 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson of Jamaica, are also notable absentees from a largely US-Caribbean field that has opted to exclude jumps and throws, much to the chagrin of track and field purists.

European athletes have also largely sidestepped an event which falls early in the season, and just weeks after the indoor World Championships in China.

- Return on investment? -

Johnson says absenteeism is inevitable for an event in its inaugural year, and understandably prefers to put the emphasis on the athletes who will be in Kingston.

"All the athletes are not going to come in Year One," he told Citius Mag in a recent interview.

"You can over-index and get hyper-focused on who's not here, which, in my opinion, is somewhat disrespectful to the 48 who are here."

The format of the series also allows for stars such as Lyles, Alfred and Richardson to enter the fields at future events as "challengers".

Lyles recently expressed scepticism at the league’s ability to attract sponsors.

"Money is not the thing that's going to drive me every time," Lyles said. "I'm looking, who are your outside sponsors? Who are your non-track and field sponsors?"

Lyles' US team-mate Rai Benjamin, the Olympic 400m hurdles champion, has also questioned the financial viability of the circuit.

"I look at it as a business," Benjamin said. "At the end of the day, if there's no ROI (return on investment), then you have a failed business model. And it's like, how long could you be sustainable?

"They're not going to make any money this year, they're not going to make any money next year."

Johnson brushed off those concerns in an interview with The Times, adamant that Grand Slam Track's format will generate interest once it is up and running.

"I've started several successful businesses in my life and not a single one was profitable in year one," Johnson said. "That's not how you build businesses.

"But when you say we're going to get 48 of the best athletes in the world contracted to go head-to-head, people start to pay attention."

The circuit has attracted some $30 million in funding from investors while also securing broadcasting deals in the United States with CW and NBC, via the network's streaming platform, as well as Eurosport in Europe and Asia and TNT in the United Kingdom.

T.Ueda--JT