In the wake of a turbulent inaugural season for Grand Slam Track (GST), capped by the cancellation of its much-anticipated Los Angeles finale, the sprinting legend Michael Johnson is refusing to back down
Instead of mourning GST’s early setbacks, Johnson has re-emerged with even sharper conviction. In his first public remarks since the league’s pause, he sounded like a man who’s seen the future of sports entertainment, and it moves in under 60 seconds.
“Two-thirds of our races take place in under a minute,” Johnson noted, arguing that track is custom-made for today’s short attention spans and rapid-fire digital culture.
“We can tell the story in a couple of minutes… set it up, run the race, celebrate it, three minutes.”
Despite the premature end to GST’s season, Johnson points to engagement figures that prove his concept works. Across just three meets, GST drew encouraging numbers in the U.S.: 48% of its audience was women, 44% Black, 12% Latina, and notably, 60% under the age of 35.
“That’s the audience everyone else is chasing,” he emphasized.
Unlike other modern sports ventures pairing events with concerts or celebrity appearances, Johnson insists track doesn’t need distractions.
“It’s a very unique sport,” he said.
“And our athletes’ stories are very diverse, very compelling.”
Even as GST stumbled in key areas like attendance and TV viewership, Johnson remains bullish. The league struggled to draw live crowds, with its Kingston debut seeing a less-than-half-full 35,000-seat stadium, and viewership numbers hovering around 246,000 per night, modest by major league standards. Critics called the visuals ‘worryingly empty’, though they praised the racing, the optics stood out harshly.
Yet Johnson is choosing to see these challenges as lessons. GST did make a breakthrough on one front: digital engagement.
“What we’re seeing with Grand Slam Track is our content on social, the engagement level is extremely high,” he said.
He acknowledges the missteps but frames them as part of a bigger build.
“We’ll look at things that we might change or adjust,” he admitted.
Michael Johnson is betting that while the first lap might have been rough, Grand Slam Track’s race is far from over. And if his vision holds, the next chapter will be faster, sharper, and louder, all in under 60 seconds.
