Grand Slam, Diamond League, and Professionalism in Track & Field
by Steve McGill
Well, every time I check my phone, it seems like the news about Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track league gets worse. Although the meets themselves were competitive and entertaining, financial issues have risen to the surface that put the future of the league in doubt. Meanwhile, Diamond League meets in Paris, Monaco, Oregon, and other parts of the world are featuring top-tier talent and continuing to thrive. Finally, with the NCAA championships taking place late last month, we saw many awe-inspiring performances, but questions remain regarding collegiate Track & Field’s relationship with the professional version of the sport. I’d like to discuss the first two of these three topics in this article, and then discuss collegiate track and field in the next one.
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Let’s start with Grand Slam. In last month’s issue I was bemoaning the fact that the fourth and final meet of the series, scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, was cancelled for reasons that were not clear. There was speculation that it might’ve been due to protests against ICE causing an unsettled environment, making LA a less than ideal place to hold a major sporting event. Maybe, as a result, local politicians advised against holding the event. But no, it was nothing like that; if you’re anything like me, you were hoping something like that was the reason. But the real reason, apparently, is much more mundane and so frustratingly predictable: the league is having money issues.
Heading into the season, that seemed like an impossibility. Johnson and his staff had done the necessary background work to ensure that they could hold all four events and pay the athletes the kind of money deserving of their efforts, talents, and status as the greatest in the world at what they do. But latest reports are saying that Grand Slam owes lots and lots of money to athletes from the first three meets — appearance fee money in some cases, and prize money in lots of cases. The figures I’m seeing are in the range of $13 million. Good googly moogly. No wonder Johnson was being evasive when it came to explaining the logic for the shutdown. Evidently, Johnson is promising that all monies will be paid out, but he’s not sounding very clear as to when the payments will be made, nor which athletes will be prioritized. It’s kind of like, “You’ll get your money when we give you your money.”
This is not a good look. This is a horrible look. For Johnson, for Grand Slam, and for the sport as a whole. Could be a death knell for Johnson as an innovator in the sport, and for the league itself. Yes, I’ve seen some athletes say that late payments are common in this sport, including Diamond League meets, as it could take weeks or even months to receive prize money. I didn’t know that; that news came as a bit of an eye-opener to me, as I had always assumed that appearance fees for Diamond League meets are paid prior to competition, and that prize money is awarded directly after competition — like on the same day or on the next day. But apparently, drug tests have to be cleared first, which makes sense. Meet directors don’t want to pay somebody only to have to find a way to void the check before it’s cashed. But weeks? Months? I had no idea. Still, the difference between Diamond League and Grand Slam is that with Diamond League you know you’re gonna get your money eventually. With Grand Slam, it feels like loaning money to your cousin who assures you he’ll pay you back as soon as his paycheck clears.
Johnson, who entered this venture with a superman cape over his shoulders, confidently stating that he can save track, even if he can’t save track & field, is looking like a fraud. Four meets isn’t a lot. You couldn’t even deliver on four meets? You hyped this league up as bringing real professionalism into the sport. And at the end of the day you’re cancelling the last meet and you owe athletes millions of dollars? This is complete and utter failure. This league is dead. There will be no coming back stronger than ever in 2026. The reason why is simple: athletes won’t join. You promise to pay me and then you don’t pay me? I’m out. Fool me once, shame on me. You know how the rest goes. It’s a shame too because this league seemed so promising, and I was all for it all the way through the Philly meet.
The whole thing has gotten me thinking about a larger, perhaps more existential question: What is professionalism in track and field? It’s always been a question that leads to nebulous answers. In major professional sports here in America, like football, basketball, and baseball, being a professional means you get paid by the team you play for. Your contract determines how much, and how the amount is distributed over the length of the contract. So, if Lebron James plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, he gets paid by the Los Angeles Lakers. Patrick Mahomes plays for the Kansas City Chiefs, so he gets paid by the Kansas City Chiefs. There’s no waiting to get paid. There’s no wondering if and when you’ll ever get paid. Endorsements are extra. A shoe deal or apparel deal is on top of the contract for the team.
In track, there are no teams. So the shoe deal, the apparel deal, is what allows you to call yourself a professional. Then there are appearance fees, prize money earnings, sponsors, etc. Put it all together and track athletes are hustling. They don’t have a primary source of income in the sense that athletes in professional leagues do. And these shoe companies don’t really care about track and field athletes because they’re expendable. A Usain Bolt may have been an exception, or a Sydney McLaughlin may be an exception. But for the most part, track and field athletes come and go. I just saw where 110h Olympic silver medalist Daniel Roberts was dropped by Nike. How do you win a silver medal, go under 13.00, and get dropped? I remember when I was writing a biography on 1972 Olympic 110 champion Rodney Milburn that I published in 2019, my research led me to the ITA — the International Track Association — a professional track league whose meets mostly took place indoors starting in 1973. By 1975 the league went under, and because of amateur rules back then, athletes like Milburn were ineligible to compete in the 1976 Olympics despite earning crumbs with the ITA.
The rules surrounding amateurism have evolved since then, thank God, but the lack of clarity regarding what being a “professional” track athlete actually entails is no different than it was fifty years ago.
I don’t know what the solution is, or if there even is one. Sports like tennis and golf have prize-money systems and we never hear anything about players not getting paid. Maybe track & field should take a look at what these sports are doing and model itself after them.
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