THE LAST event of Michael Johnson’s new athletics league in Los Angeles has been cancelled due to cash woes.
The pilot season of the Grand Slam Track was due to climax in California on June 28-29 following race meetings in Kingston, Miami and Philadelphia.
Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track is set to finish early[/caption]
The legendary sprinter’s lucrative event has a prize pool of £9.2m[/caption]
Yet the two-day meet at the Drake Stadium will not go ahead with sources claiming the economics of the deal at the venue were poor.
It is a surprise move to finish the inaugural series prematurely, especially when British stars Zharnel Hughes, Daryll Neita and Matthew Hudson-Smith were all planning to run.
And it throws into doubt the whole business model for the GST for next year, especially as they pay top athletes $100,000 (£74,000) for winning each Slam.
It began in the Jamaican capital in April but races took place in front of largely empty stands.
Four-time Olympic champion Johnson, 57, wanted to focus on track stars – there are no field events in the schedule – but the opening three rounds were beset by disappointing ticket sales.
Johnson wanted to focus on the US TV market this time but there is a chance he might look to Europe for the 2026 edition with London a favourable destination.
Sources close to the event say the ongoing riots in the city which are against Donald Trump’s controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy were not the overriding factor in the decision to cancel.
Johnson, a four-time Olympic gold medal sprinter, hoped to “revolutionise the track landscape” with the venture.
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The season offered a total prize fund of $12.6million (£9.2million) split over four events.
Johnson has been critical of the Diamond League for failing to bring in new audiences.
He said last year: ” love this sport and owe everything I have to this sport.
“It’s been a shame for me to watch [the Diamond League] over the last couple of decades since I retired not be able to continue to provide the same amazing moments to people, outside of just the Olympics.
“Over three billion people are watching the sport once a year during major championships and have an expressed interest to continue watching the sport if there was a place to do so.
“So I see [Grand Slam Track] as a real opportunity from that perspective.”
