When Michael Johnson announced the launch of the Grand Slam Track series in 2025, it felt like a long-overdue revival for elite track and field. The Olympic legend was positively glowing during the post-meet briefing on April 6 in Kingston.
“It was amazing. It was great. It was fantastic,” he told reporters.
With some of the sport’s biggest names on the track, Michael Johnson’s vision seemed like a guaranteed hit. Yet, just weeks in, early signs suggest the league is already battling for traction, and it’s raising tough questions about whether track and field can truly recapture mainstream attention in a crowded sports marketplace.
The Numbers Tell a Different Story
Despite the excitement on the ground, television ratings painted a sobering picture. According to SportsMediaWatch.com, the Kingston opener drew 246,000 viewers on Saturday, April 5, and dipped slightly to 241,000 on Sunday. The Miramar leg a month later fared similarly, with 250,000 and 248,000 viewers respectively.
For context, those numbers are in the same ballpark as ESPN2’s 2023 NCAA Track & Field Championships, which averaged around 237,000 daily viewers, decent for college athletics but underwhelming for a pro series touting itself as track’s next big thing. While streaming numbers on Peacock remain unknown, industry trends suggest those would be lower still.
For a league aiming to showcase track’s elite and draw casual fans back to the sport, these figures feel like a missed opportunity.
What’s Holding the League Back?
Michael Johnson designed his “one-race-at-a-time” setup to spotlight athletes, but it risks alienating viewers used to fast-paced meets.
Track’s appeal often comes from the controlled chaos of simultaneous heats, field events, and relays. A stripped-down, single-event focus might engage die-hard fans but struggles to hold the attention of broader audiences craving variety.
Outside of track’s inner circles, many of the league’s athletes aren’t widely recognized. The buzz around Noah Lyles potentially joining in 2026 highlights just how much star power matters. Without easily marketable personalities to rally around, building compelling narratives, the lifeblood of sports entertainment, becomes tough. It’s hard to grow a product when casual fans aren’t sure who they’re watching.
A $3,250 prize pool per event is a solid incentive for athletes, but it doesn’t translate into mass-market appeal. Major leagues thrive on big-money storylines and high-stakes rivalries. Without headline-grabbing paydays or dramatic title races, the league risks fading into niche territory.
Although streaming via Peacock is a modern solution, it inevitably limits exposure compared to traditional broadcast television. Even dedicated track fans can miss events if access feels inconvenient or if coverage lacks the spectacle and polish of major network productions.
Can It Turn Around?
To his credit, Johnson has acknowledged the challenges.
“We’ll look at things that we might change or things that we need to adjust in order to try to get to profitability,” he said in a recent interview.
The foundation is there, an ambitious concept, passionate athletes, and a leader determined to disrupt the status quo.
But to survive, and thrive, Grand Slam Track needs to evolve. That could mean rethinking the format to inject more variety and excitement, aggressively marketing its most charismatic stars, and exploring broader broadcast partnerships to widen its reach.
The world of track and field has long wrestled with how to stay relevant beyond Olympic years. Grand Slam Track was a bold attempt to fill that void. Whether it can rise to meet the moment or becomes another promising concept that couldn’t scale remains to be seen.
