Lyles unconvinced
Believes Grand Slam Track should be held in the US Johnson responds to track star’s concerns
Published:Sunday | March 9, 2025 | 12:07 AMGregory Bryce - Staff Reporter
GRAND SLAM Track (GST) founder Michael Johnson has responded to recent comments made by Olympic men’s 100-metre champion Noah Lyles regarding the structure of the GST series set to kick off next month.
The GST series is a new track league spearheaded by Johnson, which will see four different meets held annually, featuring several of the world’s top athletes in their respective events.
Lyles, however, has not signed on to the competition as he explained his reservations regarding the league’s structure.
Speaking on the Beyond The Records podcast with fellow American athletes Vernon Norwood and Rai Benjamin, Lyles explained he has not been convinced by the marketing of the league.
“It definitely hurts my involvement because you’re doing all this work, but if a tree falls in the woods and nobody’s around to see it, did that tree fall?”
He continued, “Truthfully, even now looking at it, who are your outside sponsors? Who are your non-track and field sponsors? I haven’t even heard a block sponsor. I want to hear if there is a watch deal? Is there a betting company getting involved? Where are these other things that being in the US provides you with?”
Lyles also critiqued the GST’s format of hosting four slams across the world, suggesting a more efficient structure would be to hold all four meets at a single stadium in the United States.
He pointed to the Jamaica National Championships as evidence of a lack of appeal for sporting fans outside of the US.
Jamaica is set to host the first of the GST slams at the National Stadium on April 4 through to April 6.
“It’s three days; Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Are they going to do that in Jamaica? Have you ever seen the crowd at their National Championships? Besides the home stretch, none of that is full,” Lyles stated.
“I think they should build one stadium in the US in one central city. He’s talking about all these sponsors to sponsor this so you get in touch with a city organisation and you create this stadium that is going to be used year-round and it’s going to host four grand slams each year in one place,” he suggested.
In response, Johnson announced the GST series has signed deals with several broadcasters to boost the league’s marketing.
He made the announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter, while harking back to Lyles’ analogy of a tree falling in the woods.
“Peacock, The CW, NBC, Eurosport, TNT. I’m a damn lumberjack! I cut down all the trees in the woods and everybody heard them fall. Well almost everybody,” Johnson wrote on his social media page.
Scott Young, senior vice president of Content and Production at the Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe (WBD), welcomed the arrangement which will see the league signing a multi-year deal with the broadcasters.
“We are particularly excited about this new innovative format for a much-loved sport. Track remains the king of Olympics sports, consistently attracting the largest audiences through nail-biting races and intense athletic performances from some of the biggest personalities in sport,” Scott said.
“We can’t wait to work in partnership to scale coverage of this exciting new world-class athletics competition to fans all around the world through our premium channel and platform portfolio.”
Johnson also welcomed the arrangement and said it will allow the GST to be accessible for global fans for years to come.
“We are delighted to partner with our friends at Warner Bros. Discovery to bring Grand Slam Track to fans across Europe and Asia,” he said.
“Since our launch, we’ve had a huge amount of support from our great fans on these continents. We set out to ensure our broadcasts were easily accessible for fans around the world.”