The track was packed, the camera crews were ready, and the marketing banners were freshly unfurled. Yet one name was missing from the marquee. Noah Lyles, reigning Olympic 100m gold medalist and one of the sport’s most magnetic figures, remained conspicuously absent from the Grand Slam Track event. While speculation swirled, Lyles chose a quiet platform. His Beyond The Records podcast.
To dismantle the financial façade propping up the fledgling league and, by extension, the broader world of athletics. From concerns over weak sponsorships to grim forecasts about sustainability, Lyles left little room for optimism. But it was in a separate interview, with Sports Business Journal, where his deeper misgivings about the state of track and field came into full view.
In a conversation that gradually revealed the root of his unease, Lyles described athletics as drifting in a kind of institutional paralysis. “I think at the moment we’re in a state of almost limbo,” he said. “We have a lot of people who want to get in and don’t know how. We have a lot of people who believe that the sport needs saving and it doesn’t so much need saving as much as it needs help,” added the Olympic champion. His frustration did not stem from irrelevance or lack of interest, but rather from a fragmented system that fails to equip itself with long-term infrastructure or a coherent plan. Track and field, in his view, suffers not from apathy but from mismanagement. It survives. But barely, and largely through the individual hustle of its stars.
Lyles offered a clear-eyed assessment of what that survival looks like for today’s athletes. “We’re very fortunate to be a sport that, while being an Olympic amateur sport, we have normal consistent track meets outside of the Olympic year,” he said. “A lot of people are able to build lives off of those careers.” But such opportunities remain unevenly distributed and structurally unsound. He stressed that while success is possible, it is often precarious, reliant more on improvisation than planning. The present model, he argued, leaves too many runners. Particularly young aspirants. With exposure but no direction, earnings but no stability. “The problem is it could be more consistent, it could be more prevalent, it could be more planned and structured,” he said.
This lack of structure formed the heart of Lyles’s critique of Grand Slam Track, a high-profile venture that had hoped to revolutionize the professional scene. Instead, it quickly revealed cracks beneath its polished surface. “I’d say my predictions were kind of dead on unfortunately,” Lyles said, noting that the league was forced to cancel its final event in Los Angeles due to financial setbacks. “That’s never good to hear because that means that you weren’t able to make it the first full year, full season accomplishing all the goals that you had planned.” For Noah Lyles, this was more than a business failure. It was a dispiriting signal to others considering investment in the sport. “That’s very saddening because that doesn’t just affect the league, Grand Slam, but it affects every other athlete that might have leagues in their head in the future,” said Lyles. He also raised deeper questions about commercial transparency and long-term viability.
Credits- Imago
Speaking on his podcast, Lyles revealed he had been underbid by the league’s founder, a former sprinter himself. Although he did not share exact figures, Lyles noted the conspicuous absence of key corporate sponsors, including major watch and betting brands, which often underwrite such sporting enterprises. Without substantial backing and financial discipline, he warned, even the most well-intentioned models would collapse under their own weight. He described the league’s $30 million investment as a short runway, not a foundation.
What emerges from Lyles’s remarks is not merely dissatisfaction but a plea. For leadership, for organization, and for an adult conversation about money in a sport too often romanticized and too rarely stabilized. In laying bare his reasons for walking away from Grand Slam Track, Noah Lyles was not posturing for attention. He was articulating the quiet discomfort of a profession where world-class athletes routinely navigate blurred lines between amateur passion and professional obligation. His words serve not only as a warning but as a blueprint for what needs to change, if track and field is to stop improvising and start enduring. And as if to make his concerns come true, Grand Slam Track came to a screeching halt.
Does Michael Johnson fail to keep his promise as Grand Slam Track hits brakes ending inaugural season early?
“I think I can save track. I don’t think I can save track and field.” With that declaration last year, Michael Johnson drew a firm line and a fair amount of criticism. But just months later, the four-time Olympic champion’s vision for the future of athletics had hit an unexpected wall. Grand Slam Track, his bold new venture aimed at reshaping the professional track landscape, has come to an abrupt end.
Track & Field: Grand Slam Track Miami May 4, 2025 Miramar, FL, USA Michael Johnson reacts during the Grand Slam Track Miami at Ansin Sports Complex. Miramar Ansin Sports Complex Florida United States, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xKirbyxLeex 20250504_hlf_al2_126
The league was supposed to conclude its inaugural season with a final event in Los Angeles on June 28. But in a surprise move, Johnson announced its cancellation, citing “a shift in the global economic landscape.” In a statement, he said,“The decision to conclude the inaugural Grand Slam Track season is not taken lightly, but one rooted in a belief that we have successfully achieved the objectives we set out to in this pilot season.” The L.A. meet, originally set for UCLA’s Drake Stadium, will now be part of the 2026 calendar.
What started in Kingston and moved through Miramar and Philadelphia promised innovation, attention, and money, nearly $9.5 million in prize payouts over three events. Top athletes like Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas headlined the reimagined format, but big names like Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles never showed. By the time Philadelphia’s meet had to be compressed from three days to two, it was clear the momentum was thinning. Grand Slam Track may have made noise, but with the final meet shelved, its silence in L.A. now speaks volumes.
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