Grand Slam Track, the ambitious startup track and field league that once promised to revolutionize the sport, now finds itself at a crossroads marked by controversy, frustration, and a glimmer of hope for survival. Just last summer, the league boasted star athletes like Gabby Thomas, Olympic champion in the 200 meters, and promised record-breaking paydays and first-class treatment. Fast forward to January 2026, and the organization is mired in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, owing more than $30 million to athletes and vendors, with only $7,300 in cash left in its coffers.
The warning signs had been brewing for months. Gabby Thomas, who competed in Grand Slam Track’s Philadelphia and Kingston, Jamaica events in 2025—racing six times and clinching the long sprints category in Kingston—was among the first to publicly call out the league’s financial woes. In a now-notorious TikTok comment under a Grand Slam highlight reel, Thomas wrote, “So dope!! Pls pay me.” Her plea resonated with dozens of other athletes and vendors who, it turned out, were also left unpaid as the league’s finances collapsed.
By the time Grand Slam Track filed for bankruptcy in December 2025, the scale of the crisis was staggering. According to the most recent bankruptcy filings, the league owes $31 million to athletes and vendors, with Thomas herself listed as one of the largest creditors at $249,375. The largest unsecured creditor, Momentum—a vendor partner with Carr-Hughes Productions—has a claim exceeding $3 million for TV broadcast production services. The sense of betrayal among those owed money is palpable, and their frustration boiled over during the league’s first federally required creditors’ meeting on January 14, 2026.
At that meeting, held via Zoom, creditors and league officials confronted the grim reality together. Mark Fulton of Momentum, speaking on behalf of the unsecured creditors committee, didn’t mince words. “Everybody wants Grand Slam Track to succeed,” Fulton said in a statement obtained by LetsRun.com. “However, that success cannot and should not be built on the financial harm of the 2025 vendors. The impact on businesses, athletes and individuals has been severe, and the strain placed on people’s mental wellbeing has been significant and ongoing.”
Fulton’s statement offered a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes chaos as Grand Slam Track’s finances unraveled in late 2025. He described how vendors were “shocked by the treatment they received and by what can only be described as a disregard for the very people who delivered the product.” Even when vendors offered “meaningful concessions and reductions” on the amounts owed, those proposals “were not meaningfully engaged with.” According to Fulton, “Since mid-October, nearly all communication has focused on preserving Grand Slam Track, while the vendors, who carried the operational and reputational risk, were largely ignored.”
Despite the anger and disappointment, there remains a shared—if uneasy—desire to see Grand Slam Track survive in some form. The stark reality is that for creditors to recover anything, the league must remain a going concern. Liquidation would likely leave them with nothing. As Fulton put it, “We are not here to argue. We are here to resolve this properly. That resolution must fairly address what is owed to vendors while allowing Grand Slam Track to move forward on a sustainable and credible footing.”
Much of the questioning at the creditors’ meeting centered on the league’s spending priorities. With just $7,300 in the bank, Grand Slam Track revealed it expects nearly $1 million in debtor in possession financing from Winners Alliance in the coming days to fund bankruptcy proceedings and minimal operations. Yet the league’s proposed 2026 budget raised eyebrows: $400,000 had been allocated for new athlete contracts, but nothing was earmarked for paying the debts owed to 2025 athletes and vendors. When asked if the $400,000 was intended to cover past-due payments, chief restructuring officer Nicholas Rubin replied, “The funds were intended to secure the racers on a go-forward basis.” The response drew an audible chuckle from a prominent agent on the call, highlighting the sense of disbelief and injustice among those still waiting for their money.
While Michael Johnson, the league’s founder and one of its remaining six employees, did not appear at the meeting, the legacy of his decisions loomed large. Johnson had previously told Front Office Sports that a major investor’s withdrawal triggered a “major, major cash flow issue.” The Athletic later identified the investor as Todd Boehly, owner of the Dodgers and Chelsea, and reported that Grand Slam Track never actually had the $30 million it claimed to have raised. The fallout from this financial misrepresentation has been profound, with athletes and vendors left scrambling to recover what they’re owed.
Gabby Thomas, for her part, has moved on to new ventures, serving as an athlete-advisor for Athlos—a track league launched by Alexis Ohanian in 2024 that took a far more cautious approach. “I think Athlos did it the right way… We took our time with it,” Thomas told Front Office Sports, contrasting Athlos’ deliberate rollout of six races with Grand Slam’s rapid expansion and subsequent collapse.
As Grand Slam Track attempts to chart a path forward, it faces a host of unresolved questions. Chief among them: how did the league rack up more than $40 million in liabilities over just three meets? Creditors are also demanding greater transparency on executive compensation and the rationale behind budget allocations favoring future athlete contracts over settling past debts. The league has until January 31 to submit a restructuring plan, which is expected to shed more light on these issues and determine whether Grand Slam Track has any viable future.
Another major hurdle is regulatory. For Grand Slam Track to continue as a credible league, it must secure approval from World Athletics to ensure its competitions count toward official rankings. Without this endorsement, the league’s ability to attract elite talent will be severely compromised.
For now, the fate of Grand Slam Track hangs in the balance. The bankruptcy proceedings have exposed deep wounds within the sport’s community, but they’ve also revealed a shared determination to find a solution that honors the contributions of athletes and vendors while giving the league a fighting chance. As the January 31 deadline approaches, all eyes will be on Grand Slam Track’s next move—and whether it can deliver on the promises that once inspired so much hope.
While the league’s future remains uncertain, one thing is clear: the athletes and vendors who powered Grand Slam Track’s inaugural season won’t be forgotten. Their voices, frustrations, and demands for fairness will shape whatever comes next in this high-stakes saga for track and field.
