UK Athletics has declined the opportunity to participate in Michael Johnson’s $30m (£23.5m) Grand Slam Track competition, citing concerns over the financial risks involved. Rumors suggested that Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium and the London Stadium were among the potential venues for one of the four events, which is set to kick off in Jamaica in April 2025. Los Angeles and Miami are also part of the series, with the final venue expected to be announced this week. Numerous elite athletes, including four-time US Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Britain’s Olympic 1500m silver medalist Josh Kerr, have already signed up for the series, which mirrors the structure of the four tennis grand slams and boasts a prize fund of $12.6m.

Jack Buckner, UKA’s chief executive, explained that the organization’s challenging financial position means it will concentrate on making the Diamond League in London profitable, as well as potentially bidding for the 2029 World Athletics Championships. “We’re supportive of Michael Johnson’s format,” he stated. “However, three days of track athletics events require a significant number of tickets to be sold at the London Stadium, and the associated costs are quite high. They did approach us, and we had a constructive discussion. While we aspire to expand our event portfolio, we aim to do so on a foundation of sustainability.

UKA is also conducting a feasibility study into bidding for the World Athletics Championships. We understand that the next available slots are in 2029 and potentially 2031.” In 2022, UKA incurred an £800,000 loss from hosting the Diamond League in Birmingham and another £500,000 from staging the World Indoor tour in February 2023. Buckner emphasized, “We don’t want to—gamble is too strong a word—but if an event isn’t managed correctly and budgeted properly, it can result in substantial financial losses, as we’ve seen in the past.” UKA is set to report on Wednesday that it lost £1.2m in the financial year ending March 2024. However, its chair, Ian Beattie, noted that this represents an improvement from the £3.7m loss in the previous year and forecasted that the organization will break even by 2026. “We’re recovering slightly ahead of our projected timeline, which is positive,” he said. “There’s still much work to be done, but the £1.6m loss I projected for this period last year has been reduced to just under £1.2m.”

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