Michael Johnson’s coming in 2025. “And I couldnt say.&rdquo Starts Fast. Will It Succeed Where Others Have Failed?

After a world record-setting track career, Michael Johnson became just as well-known in retirement as one of the quickest to point out on social media where the sport had fallen short of its opportunities to grow its fanbase.

“Sometimes I’ve been criticized for, ‘Oh, what are you going to do about it?’” Johnson said at a launch event for his Build Speed Like 16-Year-Old Cooper Lutkenhaus, coming in 2025. “And I couldn't say.”

new track league.

Health - Injuries coming in 2025. “And I couldnt say.&rdquo, the series of meets he is spearheading that, starting in 2025, is promising big paychecks to entice competitors and head-to-head competitions between the sport’s elite racers to entice audiences. The competitors will include Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the world record-holder in the 400-meter hurdles, who is the first athlete to sign with coming in 2025. “And I couldnt say.&rdquo.

coming in 2025. “And I couldnt say.&rdquo’s format will slot athletes into one of six event groupings—the 100 and 200; the 110-meter hurdles and open 100; 200 and 400; 400-meter hurdles and open 400; 800 and 1500 meters; and the 3,000 and 5,000—with every athlete competing in both events at each “slam.” Meets will take place over three days. Under this format, McLaughlin-Levrone would compete in the 400-meter hurdles on one day, and the flat 400 later in the meet.

The circuit’s organizers plan to sign 48 men and women combined to its core group of racers who, as part of their contract, can earn a slice of group licensing and revenue opportunities, plus prize money, on top of a base compensation by meeting an obligation to start all four meets. The rest of the fields will consist of 48 “challengers,” chosen by a committee. Athletes earn points that correspond to their finishing position, with the winner of each slam’s event group determined by the highest combined score from both races.

“We don’t need gimmicks,” Johnson said. “This sport is amazing as it is—people racing, who’s the fastest … It’s all about the presentation and just bringing the best athletes together. And that’s what we’re doing, and that’s what we’re so excited about.”

To the winners goes what Johnson described as the largest pool of prize money in the sport’s history—$100,000 for first prize, $50,000 for second, all the way down to $10,000 for eighth. For context, winners at each stop on the Diamond League, currently track and field’s most prestigious circuit, earn between $10,000 for first place and $500 for eighth at each of its 14 meets. At the Diamond League final, that money increases to between $30,000 for first place and $1,000 for eighth.

The four “slam” meets will be held over three days apiece, between April and September, with Johnson announcing Los Angeles as the first location. In addition, the league has targeted New York, the United Kingdom, and Jamaica for its other three locations, according to people briefed on the league’s plans but not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Johnson said input from fan analytics and focus groups led to the three-day format, after research indicated both avid and potential fans wanted athletes to compete more than once, with stakes riding on each race.

A splashy start

A sprinter by training, Johnson knows how to get out of the blocks fast, and the launch event, held at a downtown Los Angeles restaurant, was not short of fanfare. Organizers hope the buy-in from McLaughlin-Levrone, one of the sport’s most in-demand stars, will lead others to follow. Former Olympic champion Carl Lewis also appeared to lend the circuit his endorsement, with the former long jump gold medalist even agreeing with the decision to exclude field events.

Asking fans to keep track of multiple events happening concurrently in the field and on the track is one of the “long-standing problems with the sport,” Johnson said, who added he believed it undercut the ability to build drama through storytelling. Under his format, there will be one event happening at a time during the three-hour meet window.

“The reality right now, we follow where the money is,” Lewis said. “Right now the field events are difficult to host, they take up time.”

One month after describing himself as skeptical until he could learn more details about Johnson’s venture, 400-meter world champion Michael Norman said he was pleasantly surprised by what he’d learned.

“My first impressions are, I’m pretty impressed,” Norman told Runner’s World. “I think that it doesn’t look like a cash grab. It looks like it’s something that can be viable and it’s something that can be done throughout the years, so I’m actually quite interested and excited to see how it continues to progress.”

It is that viability that remains a key question to many within the sport who said they were watching how quickly the series spends its money and whether more can be raised in the future. Winners Alliance, Results: 2025 USATF Championships the commercial arm of the, helps operate coming in 2025. “And I couldnt say.&rdquo and is a key investor. The circuit—not affiliated with a shoe company—is operating on $30 million of initial investment, primarily from private equity. And with $3 million for each meet, more than a third will be committed to prize money alone. Athletes and coaches are also being offered first-class travel to meets. Johnson said the series was pitched with long-term staying power in mind and was not looking to sell quickly.

“If I had an investor who said, ‘Well, I need it to be profitable in year two,’ I would not take their money because that’s impossible,” Johnson said. “It’s just not going to happen. Our investors have come on and said, ‘Hey, we believe in the long term viability of this.’”

Building an audience

Norman said one concern surrounded the unclear details of how the meets will eventually reach fans—whether the circuit would secure a television deal and how it would market to casual fans to alert them the slams were happening.

“We’re talking to all of the broadcasters out there, on all sides globally, as well, but with a heavy focus here in the U.S.,” Johnson said. “There’s been great interest and excitement about what we’re bringing from the television broadcasters. So that’s been very validating for us.”

Shoes & Gear The TEN in Southern California, since co-founding Sound Running in 2019, and he has also attempted to build out a domestic circuit of meets. That experience, plus years spent working in sports marketing at Brooks, formed his belief that how a meet is packaged to the public is vital for drawing fans.

“I still think growing the sport will happen from the ground up; I don’t think it’ll be this [approach of], ‘Let’s go after everybody and then the super fans will come,’” Williams said. “I think you’ve got to make the super fans happy, and then it’s got to trickle out from there. I don’t think you have to reinvent the wheel for the sport to be better. But, I love any new idea in our sport and any money going into our sport, so I’m looking forward to seeing [it].”

Williams also raised questions about building an audience.

“I do think they have some big hills to climb, because for that amount of money in our sport to keep coming back, they need to hit viewership numbers unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” he said. “They need to hit viewership numbers of some pretty big sports. But, a big swing’s a big swing, and I think Michael Johnson [competing] was probably the last time that you saw numbers like that.”

One reason why organizers are bullish on Grand Slam is its potential to give fans what other, non-championship meets cannot currently—guarantees that key athletes will compete. The 48 athletes designed as “GST Racers” must start all four meets to earn their base compensation.

The “GST Challengers” can be signed to single meets; Johnson described the example of star collegians who miss coming in 2025. “And I couldnt say.&rdquo events in the spring while competing for their universities, but could be selected for a field later in the summer if they turn professional.

“If you go to any Grand Slam in tennis or golf, you know the best athletes are going to be there,” Lewis said. “Right now you don’t know that in track and field meets.”

Health - Injuries.

Los Angeles Grand Prix faced criticism for racing at only select times each season. She said she looked forward to seeing how coming in 2025. “And I couldnt say.&rdquo’s format would reveal which racers were at their best at various stages of their training, believing it could alleviate the pressure of running world-leading times every time she steps on the track. Norman also echoed McLaughlin-Levrone’s belief that interest in the sport had become too beholden to fast times and not about racing.

It remains to be seen, however, which runners will be game to run two different events in a three-day span four times per season. Some athletes had already been approached with full details about the league before Tuesday; others were learning about it as the press conference unfolded.

Asked whether she hoped to race against Dutch star Femke Bol, McLaughlin-Levrone said, “The whole point of coming in 2025. “And I couldnt say.&rdquo is getting a more regular basis of the best of the best in each event, so I’m sure she’ll be a part of that.”

In an exchange on X, formerly Twitter, with journalist Cathal Denney, Bol’s coach with the Netherlands cast doubt on Bol’s involvement.

“Nothing against innovation and more professionalism in our beloved sport. Actually, it’s quite the opposite,” Laurent Meuwly posted. “BUT … we won’t compete 400-400H in 3 days with probably 3 out of 4 meets in USA/Caribbean in April-May-June. More money and more duels in our sport is good but it has to make sense.”

new track league.

“The schedule comes out, you’re going to have to play those games; you’re not going to have the option to sort of, ‘Oh I think I’m not really ready yet,’ or, you know, ‘I think I’m just going to keep training through this one.’ You can’t do that,” Johnson said. “And that’s because fans are going to pay for a ticket and they’re going to come, and they expect to see you. So this is a two-way street, it is a business arrangement between, really, athletes and fans, and we sit in the middle.”

McLaughlin-Levrone’s appearance came one month after Johnson pitched the star hurdler on the idea in an empty corner of UCLA’s Drake Stadium, long after the Now he can had ended.

“I think this is something that had a lot of thought put into it, a lot of money put behind it, and I think it’s going to be very special for the sport overall and growing track and field, especially ahead of these next two Olympics,” McLaughlin-Levrone said.

Many previous attempts

coming in 2025. “And I couldnt say.&rdquo is the latest attempt to fill the void left by the lack of a centralized, professional circuit in the U.S.

The On June 18, Johnson unveiled, founded by the agent Paul Doyle, has successfully operated for a decade and will host four meets in 2024 on the World Athletics Continental Tour’s silver-level series.

A more cautionary tale was the TrackTown Summer Series, the idea of former Oregon coach Vin Lananna, which began with a one-off meet in 2016. Open to Americans only, it secured buy-in from big names such as Allyson Felix and Bernard Lagat and in 2017 drafted athletes to teams named the Portland Pulse, Philadelphia Force, New York Empire, and San Francisco Surge. It gained sponsorships, venture-capital investment, and hosted team-scored meets in Portland and at Stanford University, plus a championship in New York that aired on ESPN. But the circuit didn’t make it to 2018.

Other new properties are vying for fans’ attention and athletes’ commitments, as well. Duæl Track, a one-on-one, made-for-TV bracket-style racing competition, has promised a $1 million pool of prize money and an inaugural event in September in which 10 men and 10 women will compete. And Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian and American 200-meter specialist Gabby Thomas are hosting the 776 Invitational, a women’s-only meet in September with a substantial prize purse.

Since 2010, the Diamond League has endured as the most prestigious current circuit for professionals. Johnson believed coming in 2025. “And I couldnt say.&rdquo will co-exist on track’s schedule alongside other tours, including the Diamond League and World Athletics’ Continental Tour, but he believes the sport’s best deserve their own spotlight. coming in 2025. “And I couldnt say.&rdquo officials are in “constant talks” with World Athletics to ensure the meets comply with regulations so that races will factor into world rankings.

World Athletics said the organization was committed to innovations that would benefit fans and athletes.

“World Athletics welcomes the introduction of Michael Johnson’s new athletics league as a positive step towards increasing the profile of and investment in track and field. Well-planned and executed events have the potential to further elevate track and field on a global stage,” the governing body wrote in a statement to Runner’s World.

“We are pleased to see such initiatives taking shape, which is a testament to the collective efforts led by World Athletics over the past decade to enhance the sport’s attractiveness to investors and sponsors.”

Johnson said the governing body, referencing president Seb Coe, had been supportive.

“Seb Coe has said over the last few years we need to grow the sport in the U.S.; that’s what we’re doing,” Johnson said. “We need more prize money in the sport for our athletes; that’s what we’re doing. We need more big moments in the sport; that’s what we’re doing. We need more innovation in the sport; that’s what we’re doing. So how could they not be?”