How Grand Slam Track Is Changing Lives With Its Historic $12.6 Million Prize Purse

Grand Slam Track, a new track league founded by former world record holder and Olympic champion Michael Johnson, has become a blessing to many. The legendary and historic grand prize purse of $12.6 million is life-changing for almost all those who have the opportunity to compete in the league.

While the innovative competition format and large prize money make great entertainment for fans, Grand Slam Track is doing more than just becoming everyone’s favorite sports league to engage with.

Life-Changing Money For Challengers

Jacory Patterson is one of the most recent stories to emerge from Grand Slam Track in Miami. After earning $50,000 for placing second in the long sprints category, Patterson opened up in an interview about working a full-time job at UPS to make ends meet.

Patterson was an elite NCAA athlete, competing for Virginia Tech and the University of Florida while earning several All-American honors. After graduating from college, Patterson decided to continue his track career professionally. Since this journey began two years ago, he’s earned three world indoor championship medals, one of which is an individual bronze medal in the 400-meter dash.

Despite showing promise and proving his world-class talent, Patterson has yet to sign a contract with a major shoe brand. Athletes typically make most of their money from these contracts in track and field. Although meets usually have prize money, it’s not enough to fully fund a stable professional career. This is why the 12 million dollar prize purse at Grand Slam means so much; it’s unheard of in this sport.

Patterson was brought to Grand Slam Track as a Challenger in Miami. A Challenger is an athlete who is selected to compete at certain Slams, unlike Racers who are contracted to compete at all four Slams. He competed in the long sprint group, where he contested the 200-meter and 400-meter dash. In the 400-meters, Patterson stormed to a new world lead and personal best of 43.98 seconds. His point total was enough to have him place second overall, earning him $50,000.

In this interview, Patterson mentioned how he works at UPS and gets off at 4 a.m. every morning before he goes to practice at 9 a.m. He came to Grand Slam in hopes of earning enough money to fund his professional track career so he wouldn’t have to work at UPS anymore. He made a year’s worth of salary in less than 48 hours.

Patterson isn’t the only heartfelt story about a Challenger that came out of Grand Slam Track. Dylan Beard was the focal point of track news months ago when he went viral for saying he works at Walmart to make ends meet. Beard is often seen wearing a specially designed Walmart racing kit during competition.

Beard has earned $65,000 so far running in Grand Slam, which is probably more than what he makes in a year at Walmart.

When I spoke with Grand Slam Track Commissioner Michael Johnson, he said he was pleased to see his league create life-changing opportunities for those who need them most.

“The athletes, they’re earning this,” said Johnson. “They’re earning the ability to be compensated fairly [and] they are doing exactly what we thought they would do… it feels great to be able to give them what they deserve.”

In addition, Johnson mentioned he was committed to getting them paid as quickly as possible. He did not specify a time frame but did say that they try to move through the process quickly to the best of their ability.

Some athletes have voiced that they’ve had to wait months, and in some cases, a year, to receive prize money from other track and field competitions. Johnson aims to avoid this, which is important for athlete satisfaction.

Grand Slam hopes to make this experience lucrative for the athletes and is dedicated to creating a fulfilling experience for its photographers and content gatherers as well. Johnson mentioned that a huge goal for the league was to amplify storytelling so there would be more eyes on the sport.

“We’re trying to ensure that these photographers telling the stories…of these athletes [can do it with ease],” said Johnson. “Our goal is to bring down all these barriers and restrictions that make it difficult to tell the story… so more people will watch this sport and support these athletes.”

Overall, Grand Slam is looking to make track a fulfilling experience for anyone who provides value, whether that be through competition, making memorable content, or watching the sport.

Providing Elite Competition By Any Means Necessary

As insinuated by their slogan, “Only The Fastest,” Grand Slam Track is dedicated to showcasing elite competition. This also means allowing athletes to explore other racing categories in the league, which may not be what they typically compete in. There are many athletes who are versatile across several disciplines in the sport, such as Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Anna Hall. These two women are just a few examples of athletes who display world-class talent in many different events.

Hall is a 2024 Olympian with two world championship medals in the heptathlon. By nature of her event, she is great at many disciplines in track and field. However, Hall differs from most heptathletes as she enjoys running the 400-meter hurdles and 400-meter dash.

So much so that during the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Hall decided to contest the heptathlon and 400-meter hurdles. That’s eight events with nine races total to complete. Although she trains for this amount of volume, the 400-meter hurdle final that year was less than 10 minutes before the 800-meter of the heptathlon. Hall walked away with another NCAA title in the heptathlon and a silver medal in the 400-meter hurdles.

Hall’s times in the 400-meter dash and hurdles are comparable to those of the best in the world. Despite those events not being her main focus, she’s still a strong competitor, which is why she was brought on as a Challenger for the long hurdles group in Miami.

Hall placed third overall and took home $30,000. She is one of Adidas’s best athletes, so she is not in the same position as Patterson and Beard. However, Grand Slam Track is founded on allowing athletes like Hall to be competitive and simply earn money based on their skills.

“When you go to a golf tournament those golfers are being paid to play in that tournament,” said the Commissioner. “That’s been a fundamental flaw of [track and field]…so what we’re doing, it feels great to pay the athletes to compete so they don’t have to rely on a shoe sponsor.”

If you are competitive at any event and can execute a desirable performance, Grand Slam Track wants to pay you for that talent.

This same principle applies to McLaughlin-Levrone. The six-time world record holder said she would be racing in a different Slam group next weekend in Philadelphia. She will be running in the short hurdles, which means she’ll be racing the 100-meter hurdles and her first-ever 100-meter dash in her professional career.

McLaughlin-Levrone is as legendary as they come. She’s proven she can also be competitive in the 100-meter hurdles, 200-meter dash, and 400-meter dash. Despite never racing a 100-meter dash, McLaughlin-Levrone has the mindset of a champion and will deliver a dynamic performance no matter what.

During the LA Slam, she will run in the long sprints group, where she will face off against Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino and Olympic silver medalist and current world leader Salwa Eid-Naser. A dream of McLaughlin-Levrone’s has been to break Sonya Richards-Ross’ outdoor American record in the 400-meter dash. She is only four hundredths of a second from claiming that record. Having these three women compete in LA will surely become one of the biggest storylines Grand Slam is trying to create.

In any way they can, this league is dedicated to creating storylines, providing opportunity, and breeding elite competition. Johnson and his team want to ensure athletes are being paid for their performances so they can continue being great without financial burden.

How Grand Slam Track Will Continue To Improve

The first year of Grand Slam Track is halfway over after the completion of Jamaica and Miami. The major question on everyone’s mind is whether the league will choose to expand its reach in the future.

In an interview after the Miami Slam, Johnson was adamant that they would continue to grow the league. His primary concern was when the best time would be to expand and which cities they would add. Fans can rest assured that there will be more than four host cities.

“We have cities reaching out to us expressing their interest in being Grand Slam Track host cities,” said Johnson. “We’re going to need to wait until the season is over to determine the best places for us to… take Grand Slam Track.”

When I spoke with Johnson, he said he was also open to expanding the prize money. Similar to his previous response, his team needs to discuss when the best time would be to do that.

“We’d love to [expand the prize purse], but we have to get there,” Johnson stated. “We have to keep bringing in more fans… so that the money is there. Ultimately, the money to pay athletes comes from fans engaging with this sport.”

This includes getting more fans to buy tickets and growing a larger viewership on television.

While many are eager for expansion, some of these changes may happen sooner than you think. The next Grand Slam Track meet will take place in Philadelphia, May 31st through June 1st. The league announced recently that they would be shifting away from their initial three-day schedule format to a two-day schedule. This decision was based on many fans asking the league to change the schedule on social media. Despite the criticism of doing it in the middle of the season, some admire their dedication to making quick changes for a better fan experience.

More information about the schedule changes can be found on the Grand Slam Track website.

Along with McLaughlin-Levrone racing her first-ever professional 100-meter dash in Philadelphia, fans can expect performances from the second fastest indoor 400-meter runner of all-time, Isabella Whittaker, and 1500-meter Olympic bronze medalist Georgia Hunter Bell. Those looking to tune into the action can stream the meet on Peacock and The CW.