It was supposed to change pro track. Now, short on cash, it owes athletes millions.

Fronted by star Michael Johnson, Grand Slam Track promised payouts bigger than any other in track. But athletes are still waiting to receive what they are owed.

As summer began in 2024, former Olympic gold-medal sprinter Michael Johnson stood in a downtown Los Angeles restaurant that had been rented out for a big announcement. Johnson said he had secured $30 million in funding for a new track league, promising payments never before seen in track and field.

In a sport where even top stars earn modest livings by the standards of professional athletes, Grand Slam Track represented a huge windfall. More than one-third of that promised funding would be earmarked for prize money alone, a pool of more than $3 million per meet. And the biggest winners at each of its four meets would pocket $100,000 per meet — five times as much as first place earned on track’s other global circuit.

Additionally, 48 competitors who signed contracts with the circuit could earn an annual base compensation, plus a cut of revenue from group licensing.

Yet just 14 months after Johnson’s grand announcement, and four months after the group held its first meet in Jamaica, Grand Slam Track has yet to pay many of its athletes and vendors, and Johnson acknowledged Friday that the cash crunch — what one source said was around $13 million in unpaid money to athletes alone — poses an existential threat to the fate of the circuit returning for a second season.

“The cruelest paradox in all of this is we promised that athletes would be fairly and quickly compensated. Yet, here we are struggling with our ability to compensate them,” said a statement signed by Johnson that was posted on social media Friday.