Michael Johnson Slam splash in LA venue

Article posted by Coliseum, November 30^th, 2024

Image: Franklin Field, Cornellrockey at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5

The Grand Slam Track™, the new global home of professional track competition, launched earlier this year by the four-time US Olympic Champion Michael Johnson, recently announced that the Drake Stadium in Los Angeles (US) will be the host venue for the fourth and final Slam of the 2025 season to be held on June 27^th, 28^th and 29^th.

‘grand-slam-track.runnerspace.com’ stated that Los Angeles was announced last June as the home Grand Slam Track™ and a Host City with the other 2025 Slams taking place in Kingston, Jamaica, Miami, and Philadelphia. The above announcement confirms the date and venue for the final Slam of 2025 and completes the calendar for the Grand Slam Track™ first season.

The Grand Slam Track is an upcoming professional track and field league that was announced in 2024 by the American former Olympic champion sprinter Michael Johnson. The first season is due to run from April to September of 2025.

Born in Dallas, Texas (US), Michael Johnson is a Hall of Fame track and field star universally recognized as one of the greatest sprinters of all time. He won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships across his career and held world and Olympic records in both the 200m and 400m races. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Johnson became the first and only male athlete to win the Gold medal in both the 200m and 400m at the same Olympics. Since retiring from active competition, Johnson has become a serial entrepreneur and investor as well as a highly sought after performance mindset speaker and an award-winning television commentator.

Maintained Michael Johnson, the league’s Founder and Commissioner, “Los Angeles is set to host Grand Slam Track™. As a global sports capital, LA provides the perfect stage to showcase the cream of the crop from around the world. We’re eager to bring the event to this iconic City and can’t wait to give the fans an unforgettable experience. It’s a new era for the sport and we’re delighted to be leading the way.”

The Grand Slam Track™, the pinnacle of international racing, is coming to Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Slam will be held at the University of California, Los Angeles’s (UCLA’s) 11,700-capacity Drake Stadium on June 27^th, 28^th and 29^th where the world’s fastest racers will compete. Tickets for all the four Slams will go on sale on December 6^th at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific.

The 2025 Grand Slam Track™ season calendar is now fully announced. The inaugural Slam will be the Kingston Slam which will take place at the National Stadium in the 35,000-capacity Independence Park in Kingston, Jamaica, from April 4^th-6^th, 2025. The Miami Slam will take place at the 5,000-plus capacity Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Florida (US) from May 2^nd-4^th, 2025. The Philadelphia Slam will take place at the 52,958-capacity Franklin Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania from May 30^th-June 1^st, 2025.

‘grand-slam-track.runnerspace.com’ further stated that these racers are selected by the Grand Slam Track™ Racing Committee based on a combination of factors to include the fastest and best racers in each race group with a focus on fierce rivalries and thrilling competitive racing. The GST Racers commit to racing in all four Slams per year. They will receive an annual base compensation for racing in each Slam and are eligible for the full prize money. These GST Racers will receive annual contracts, access to the GST content and data services team, inclusion in the league collective, group licensing and new revenue opportunities, plus access to the world-class athlete support services throughout the season. The GST racers are compensated under the contract to race and promote the league and receive additional marketing and branding support.

The racers and Challengers will be assigned to compete in one of the following categories and will all race in two events during each Slam: short sprints (100m/200m), short hurdles (100H or 110H/100m), long sprints (200m/400m), long hurdles (400H/400m), short distance (800m/1500m), or long distance (3000m/5000m).

All the competitors’ final placement score will be determined by their combined finishing order between the two races. In the event of a tie across the two events, it will be the athlete who had the quickest combined time across the two races who will be deemed the winner. The winner of each Slam group will take home $100,000 in prize money and the eighth place competitor will earn $10,000. The Grand Slam Track™ will have a total of $12.6m of prize money that will be awarded across the Slams each year in addition to the base compensation and appearance fees paid to the racers.

The focus of the Grand Slam Track™ is on head to head competition, not winning times. There will be no rabbits or pacing lights. Each Slam is equally as important as any other, will have its own prize purse and will be independently scored with the points and the previous finishes not carrying over to the following Slams. All the racers will compete twice over the three-day event and all the Slam events will meet the World Athletics regulations with achieved marks being eligible for rankings and standards.

The Grand Slam Track™ has secured more than $30 million in financial commitments from the investors and the strategic partners for the launch of the league.

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