Grand Slam Track (GST), the running-focused athletics tour that debuted earlier this year, has reportedly informed vendors that they will need to sacrifice substantial amounts of the fees that they are owed if the project is to stave off bankruptcy.
The Athletic publication has reported that GST, which was established by track legend Michael Johnson, has accrued debts of well over $10 million across both its vendors and participating athletes, many of whom are yet to receive as much as six figures in payment.
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It went on to reveal that GST has sent letters to vendors offering each of them 50% of their total owed fees, a deal that, if rejected, would require GST to shutter its operations entirely.
That offer comes with a deadline of December 5, and a proviso that every vendor must accept the offer for any of them to receive the remuneration.
In July, it was reported that Grand Slam Track owed as much as $13 million to athletes relating to both prize money (the series’ total prize pot stood at $12.6 million) and appearance fees, and it seems that the situation has not yet significantly improved, with eight-figure debt still on the books of the beleaguered project.
Johnson has stated that dated timelines for athlete payment had been put into place, but that the series was unable to meet those timelines, adding that the proposed 2026 Grand Slam Track campaign will not take place until all athletes from 2025 have been paid.
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By GlobalDataAt the time, many of the issues were attributed to the withdrawal of a prominent sponsor of the series that had committed significant funding before reneging on the agreement, although funding issues seem to have spiraled significantly since then.
The series, founded by Olympic legend Michael Johnson, began in April and had scheduled three further meets across May and June, but only ran two of those events before ending the campaign early – before the season-finale – citing the need to prepare for the 2026 edition.
GST has now, according to reports, engaged consultancy service Force 10 and insolvency law firm Levene, Neale, Bender, Yoo & Golubchik L.L.P. to aid in its attempts to navigate the financial difficulty.
Grand Slam Track has nonetheless already brought in several commercial partners ahead of 2026, including media company Sundial, which has been tasked with helping GST secure strategic commercial partnerships from the 2026 season.
