In keeping with The Guardian, U.Ok. Athletics (UKA) has declined involvement in Michael Johnson’s new Grand Slam Monitor league, citing issues about monetary threat. Birmingham and London had been among the many cities thought-about for internet hosting one of many 4 deliberate annual occasions, scheduled to start out in April 2025.
UK Athletics turns down Grand Slam Monitor involvement over monetary issues https://t.co/dgQQay6nff
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) November 12, 2024
UKA’s CEO, Jack Buckner, defined UKA’s focus shift to creating the London Diamond League worthwhile slightly than funding a brand new sequence. “We’re constructive about Michael Johnson’s format,” mentioned Buckner. “Three days (eight occasions per day) of simply monitor athletics is lots of tickets to promote within the London Stadium, and the price base comes fairly excessive there.”
Although UKA has stepped again for now, Buckner indicated it might rethink internet hosting future Grand Slam Monitor occasions if the league proves sustainable. The brand new monitor league, set to rival the well-established Diamond League, has introduced three of its 4 inaugural 2025 occasion places, with the season debut in Kingston, Jamaica, adopted by meets in Miami and Los Angeles. Elite athletes, together with four-time Olympic gold medallist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, world 800m champion Marco Arop and British middle-distance star Josh Kerr, have signed on to the sequence, which contains a $12.6 million prize pool and is impressed by the tennis Grand Slam tournaments.
Marco Arop turns into first Canadian to signal with Grand Slam Monitor League
In recent times, UKA has confronted monetary challenges, shedding greater than $1,000,000 in in the future through the Birmingham Diamond League in 2022 and one other $800,000 on the 2023 World Indoor Tour meet in Birmingham. “We don’t need to–gamble is simply too robust a phrase–however if you happen to don’t get an occasion proper and also you don’t finances for it correctly, it will possibly lose some huge cash rapidly,” Buckner mentioned.
UKA’s latest monetary assertion experiences a lack of CAD $2,000,000 for the fiscal 12 months ending in March 2024, although chair Ian Beattie famous this was an enchancment over the CAD $4,700,000 deficit from the earlier 12 months. Beattie is optimistic that UKA will break even by 2026, stating, “We discover ourselves recovering a bit forward of that projected curve, which is encouraging.”
Beattie additionally revealed that UKA is conducting a feasibility research for a possible bid to host the World Athletics Championships in both 2029 or 2031, with upcoming editions (in 2025 and 2027) set to happen in Tokyo and Beijing.
