Alexis Ohanian isn’t one to hold back when something feels off, especially when it involves athletes getting the short end of the stick. After the massive success of Athlos NYC, which gave female track stars the platform and payday they deserved with a $500,000 prize pool, Ohanian had the track and field world buzzing. But just as we catch our breath, another competition is gearing up to make waves. Enter Grand Slam Track, Michael Johnson’s upcoming 2025 track showdown.

With four events spanning from April to September, the competition promises to keep the athletes busy—and well-paid—with prize money ranging from $100,000 down to $10,000 for all competitors. Sounds like another win for track and field, right? Well, not so fast. Here’s where things get tricky.

The Grand Slam Track organizers have apparently thrown in one alleged and controversial rule: Athletes who sign up need permission if they want to compete in other meets, including Ohanian’s Athlos. And that didn’t sit well with Alexis. The Reddit co-founder was quick to voice his frustration, calling on Michael Johnson to reconsider. In a post on X on October 2nd he pleaded for change, pointing out that such a rule would limit athletes’ opportunities, essentially forcing them to ‘pick one side and stick with it.’

Alongside calling out Michael Johnson, Ohanian didn’t shy away from mentioning Bill Ackman, the hedge fund manager and CEO of Pershing Square, who is also an investor in Grand Slam Track. Ohanian said, “Hey, @MJGold I loved seeing you + @BillAckman Follow @ATHLOS by launching @GrandSlamTrack (great to see more people investing in athletics! ), but it’s disappointing you’re requiring these women to get permission from you & Bill in order to compete in other leagues. It’s not very athlete-friendly.”

For context, billionaire Bill Jackson chairs the board of Winners Alliance, known to be the lead investor and operating partner of Grand Slam Track. But it is not involved in the everyday operations. Winners Alliance is part of the Professional Tennis Players Association, co-founded by Novak Djokovic. Founded in 2022, it has contributed a major chunk to the $30 million Grand Slam Track has raised. But Ohanian didn’t just stop there!

In a comment on his same post, Alexis Ohanian reached out to Michael Johnson once again, asking him to rethink his stance, especially given Johnson’s long-standing support for track and field athletes. Ohanian urged him, writing, “You’re an Olympic legend and I hope you’ll reconsider. It’s so much better for the sport to give these women more options and not fewer — especially while it’s still so under-invested-in.”

Alexis’ advocacy for women athletes is loud and clear, but there is concern that this decision by the 4x Olympic medalist Michael Johnson could affect not only the athletes but also the future events of Athlos. Why so? The Reddit co-founder Ohanian has admitted he’s not finished cooking yet after his recent success with Athlos NYC and is keen to come back for more. There might be a scope of problems if this happens. We will get an idea about it if we take a look at the contract that Grand Slam offered at least one athlete that Front Office Sports obtained.

The relevant section of the contract mentioned that athletes need to “obtain prior written consent” to “engage in a Competing Sports League’s event.” Any track league with more than two events will be considered a “Competing Sports League.” But it excludes the Diamond League “or other professional sports leagues like the National Football League.” The contract explicitly says that athletes do not need Grand Slam’s permission to take part in the Olympics, world or national championships, and “primary sponsor meets and other traditional track meets.” 

Understandably, if Ohanian plans to bring in more meets in a year, that might clash with the GST. But the language of the contract does look like it aims to slow down the rise of other track meets by restraining them to expand beyond two meets every year.Meanwhile, Ohanian’s tweet was not taken lightly by the GST. They came up with a strong reply without naming Ohanian.

“It’s unfortunate that in this pivotal moment to elevate the sport, there are some newcomers who think the way to do this is to create controversy through distortions,” its spokesperson stated to the FOS. They also discarded Ohanian’s claims that Grand Slam Track is strict about other leagues and not “athlete-friendly.”

“We’re supportive of Grand Slam Track athletes competing in Diamond League events and any other one-off events that may arise. As the first track league to ever pay athletes a fair base salary and awarding the most prize money in the history of the sport, we continue to be in active conversations with athletes and agents to create a contractual framework that always puts the athletes first,” the spokesperson mentioned. Neither Johnson nor Ackman have responded to Ohanian on the platform.

Alexis Ohanian and Michael Johnson aim to build new culture in track and field

When Athlos and Grand Slam hit the track scene, they were both gunning for the same thing: to inject some serious cash into a sport notorious for shortchanging athletes outside the star-studded ranks. Its winner’s prize money of $60,000 is in stark contrast to the Diamond League’s $30,000.

For more context, during the Diamond League final in 2023, Olympic champion Shericka Jackson earned $60,000 after winning the 100-meter and 200-meter dash. At Athlos, women would only need to win one event to receive that amount of money. Plus, it also offered a dazzling Tiffany & Co. crown, which the winners could take home!

Brittany Brown ran 33 seconds at Athlos and earned $85,000. She earned $25,000 by placing second against Marie Jose Ta Lou in the 100-meter dash while winning the 200-meter dash against Gabby Thomas earned her $60,000 more. Even if she won two events at the Diamond League final this year, she wouldn’t have made that amount. Brittany herself pointed out that in a tweet. But the prize money is not the only interesting thing about Athlos.

The meeting recognized that it needed to hype up the environment. So they brought in major rap artist Megan Thee Stallion to perform that night. She performed hit songs like Hiss and Mamushi, interacted with the crowd, and gave shout-outs to the athletes who competed. DJ D-Nice, the creator of Club Quarantine, curated the walk-out songs for the competitors before the competition. If these were not enough, fan favorites such as Flavor Flav, Marsai Martin, and Lupita Nyong’o were also in the presence. Let’s turn our eyes to GST now.

Grand Slam Track will take a different approach. They decided to follow the tennis format, keeping four meets every year, two in the US and the other two in international cities. The event structure isn’t the only thing GST is borrowing from other sports. Johnson will be the commissioner of the series, something rarely seen in track and field. Johnson said he has got the idea “from the playbooks of other sports”, where the most lucrative competitions are run by entities rather than federations.

“You take something like Formula One, the FIA does not run Formula One. It’s Liberty Media that’s doing that, and they’re a for-profit, private organisation. Think about the NFL or the English Premier League, it’s not the football federation that’s doing that, it’s not the English FA that’s running the Premier League. So the same situation, I think, was always going to be needed for track and field: to have a commercially-minded organisation that could actually come in, take this sport and commercialize it in a way that it needs,” Johnson had said SportsPro in late July.

The league led by Michael Johnson also brought a whopping cash prize of $12.6 million, with the winner of each Slam category receiving US$100,000, while the eighth-placed athlete will still be guaranteed US$10,000. “The athletes have indicated they want to compete more, but they do believe – and I agree with them – that they should be compensated properly if they’re going to go out there and compete against their best competition,” Johnson stated. Thus, both leagues seem to be fully ready to revolutionize the track world. And that is already happening.

World Athletics became the first to financially reward Olympic gold medalists in Paris 2024. It is also set to offer a record US$10 million prize pool pot at the Ultimate Championship, a new ‘fast-moving’ event format that will debut in 2026. The Diamond League, meanwhile, has announced that its prize money next year will increase to a record US$9.24 million. All these being said, there are still some challenges GST is navigating through.

While Athlos found its home on DAZN, X, and ESPN, Grand Slam Track is still on the hunt for a broadcasting partner. According to reports, 2.5 million viewers tuned into Althos via its X account. Big names like Noah Lyles have made it clear they’ll only sign on GST once the broadcast part is sorted.

Plus, Grand Slam Track is playing it smart by focusing solely on track events—no field events here! This means they can keep all eyes glued to one event at a time, creating a more thrilling experience for the audience. So, with the unique offerings from both Athlos and Grand Slam Track, Alexis Ohanian’s call-out to Michael Johnson has really stirred the pot!