How is interest be maintained once the Summer Olympics are around, the question is posed every four times. Most of the time, there was n’t much of an answer, and even the companies that are focused on the sport were stumped by the question. However, the speed around monitor may not be greater than it is currently.
The Winners Alliance-backed Grand Slam Track and Alexis Ohanian’s one-night-only Athlos occasion, which take place in New York in later September, are two distinct cooperatives hoping to capitalize on the time in ways that previous work does not.
Grand Slam Track is spearheaded by Michael Johnson, the four-time Olympic gold medalist and eight-time world hero runner. Johnson, who has parlayed his sport victory into a solid career in the business aspect of sports, enlisted an suffered brain trust to develop his company’s infrastructure. Steve Gera, who led the Cleveland Browns and the Los Angeles Chargers ‘ development groups, was appointed as the track’s president and chief operating officer in July. He thinks that the lead time between now and the second meet in April 2025 has been important in “professionalizing track” as well as creating a new sport event.

” This is why, simply, we’ve really taken our moment to go about it because what we’re bringing around is solid architectural change inside of game, which is more of a wondering problem”, Gera said in a movie meeting. ” We’re merely professionalizing and codifying the world’s oldest activity, an old game, and really the outlet of the Olympic movement. Whatever we’re doing right now is genuinely geared toward developing a really professional sports group for the top racers in the world.
The Grand Slam Track competition will have English middle-distance skater Josh Kerr and American hurdler and runner Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in a few months to establish a new standard for the sport. On September 26, But Athlos will be able to do the same at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York City. Ohanian wants to put his money where his teeth is when it comes to supporting women’s athletics, starting with the 776 Invitational, which was initially intended as a smile to the president’s venture capital firm.
Although it is helpful to be the partner of Serena Williams, one of the greatest athletes always, Ohanian’s efforts to raise the status of female athletes may not be as evident as it was in track, where a global market watched them in wonder at the Paris Olympics in wonder. ( In fact, 69 of Team USA’s 126 total Olympic medals, including 26 of the 40 golds, were won by women. )
Ohanian claimed that seeing why track does n’t always stay top of mind after the Olympics helped him and his team understand why. In early 2023, he contacted various record players to find out what they wanted to see from these activities as both trail runners and as followers. He soon realized that cramming several events in a track and field occurrence would n’t make each high-stakes competition stand on its own.

” There’s an energy that I wanted to capture, tell me a little of US Open day complements”, said Ohanian, “where people are a few coffee in, the public’s little loud. It’s good energy. Maybe there’s some celebs in the audience. That is the model in my head, especially for women’s sports, where you have something that is a blue-chip, primetime, must-see event in women’s sports. We blend culture, we blend sport, because they are they clearly feed off one another, inspire one another”.
Although Grand Slam Track has n’t yet made any official announcements about the full schedule for the tour, it has worked closely with other organizations to ensure that the host cities will play the same” character” role that Paris did during the Olympics. So far, Los Angeles is the only city that’s been announced, but the circuit will choose one other American city and two international destinations.
” Every single city that we have a slam in will be an absolute character and a very significant part of our storytelling,” Gera said. Because the places we’ve chosen have an extremely amazing track culture associated with them,” we need to have really great local fan bases attending, coming out, and being a part of it.”
So why is now the time to track, exactly? After decades of wealthy individuals and businesses investing in major male sports leagues, those same investors are finally looking at women’s sports and the” Olympic sports” for those same growth opportunities. The sport’s leadership believes that today’s media and technology environments could enable those investments in a way that has n’t previously been the case.
” I honestly just think that one, the market conditions may not have been right for it from a sports business perspective, because the resources were going elsewhere”, said Gera. ” Secondly, the market has just evolved to where it’s just lined up perfectly for the sport that track is, which is very easy to understand, very easy to consume, and incredibly exciting”.
Ohanian cited his soccer background and how the 2019 Women’s World Cup compelled him to fund Angel City FC in the NWSL. He became aware that American sports fans were aware that the American women were the absolute best in their sport, and that awareness has been rewarded with the explosive growth of the NWSL.
Ohanian expressed gratitude for Gabby Thomas becoming one of the first track stars to sign with Athlos, especially given her performance in Paris. ” I do n’t know how many people were talking about her as a three-time gold medalist at this Olympics, but she came out of this Olympics with a lot of hardware, right? And again, if we’re talking about this legacy of American greatness, the women are unassailable”.
With its brief bursts of intense action, the sport appears more prepared than ever for the post-Olympics moment, whether it’s new annual events like Athlos that combine competition and entertainment or tours like Grand Slam Track that financially raise the bar for track stars. ” Every single race is a highlight”, Gera said. And we are now a highlight culture when it comes to engaging in sports. I think all that just matches up to where it’s now track’s time”.