When it rains, it pours. And it looks like the Diamond League has been caught up in a storm this season. The finals recently concluded in Brussels on September 13 and 14. However, many fans and athletes voiced their frustrations with the meet. They recently made a surprise announcement, highlighting a significant increase in their total prize fund for next year. Unfortunately, that wasn’t met with much enthusiasm either.

On September 20, a track and field journalist from the Inside Lane, Lillz TIL, pointed out even more discrepancies with the DL on X. “Diamond League need to revamp so much but they’ve had no one forcing their hand to till now…,” she posted. With the season done and dusted for now, she reiterated that now was the best time to voice her opinions. “And their Meet Directors need to find a way to not leave athletes feeling disrespected because that always comes up in my conversations with them.” This is not the first time the meet has landed in hot water.

It all started when FloTrack acquired exclusive broadcasting rights for the Diamond League. 14 out of 15 meets will be broadcasted on the track and field platform from 2025. However, while this should have been worthy of a celebration, fans were upset instead. Many believed this would be bad for the sport’s visibility, possibly leading to a huge chunk losing their viewership. Why’s that? A $29.99 monthly subscription would be required to enjoy the meeting.

This is a significant jump from Peacock’s $5.99 per month. Most don’t even pay for subscriptions and instead rely on NBC’s free-to-air service to watch the DL. While this was already an issue, track and field legend Carl Lewis chimed in with a shocking statement. “I’m not a fan of the Diamond League,” he posted on X. However, this isn’t all he had to say. “The Diamond League has always been about collusion and lowering athletes’ control and pay, it needs to go.” And the masses echoed his sentiment. 

But things went from bad to worse when Paris Olympic gold medalist Grant Holloway announced his withdrawal from the Brussels Diamond League final. He shared the news in a September 10 post on X, “Shame that they doing athletes like that..” This came on the heels of 400m hurdles Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s exclusion from the same event. While the organizers rectified their faux pas, it was a little too late. How do the fans feel about the meet? 

The Diamond League leaves the track and field community unimpressed

After Lillz TIL’s mini-rant, fans rallied behind her, voicing their opinions about the meet. One fan agreed, “Literally, we’ve established the sport is nothing without the athletes, and like you said it takes that one star athlete to talk.” Even though Holloway didn’t elaborate on what motivated him to pull out, many fans believed this boils down to the appearance fees. Another fan stated, “Def gotta embrace it, this is too important of an era in the sport.” The Diamond League current cash prinze ranks last among the other leagues.

One fan pointed out, ” Next year is gonna be funny 😂” The track and field season is not over yet. Athlos NYC will be gracing our screens this year. They boast a total prize fund of $500,000. But they’ve also taken several steps to make the meet more accessible to the masses. Furthermore, the Grand Slam Track commences in Spring 2025 with four Slams throughout the year. What’s their total prize fun? It is a whopping $12.6 million.

One fan exclaimed, “Did you see the way that the Mondo vs Karsten 100m exhibition race was held?! The background, the buildup, and the actual race itself were sold perfectly.” They also pointed out the stark difference between the exhibition race and the Zurich Diamond League events. They were only a day apart. But this fan reiterated that while it doesn’t fix the issues, the race’s execution made all the difference. Will this season’s errors make its way into the next season? We will only have to wait and watch.