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Grand Slam Track lands broadcast deal with The CW Network and NBC Sports

Four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson's newest track league, Grand Slam Track, has secured its biggest deal to date

marco arop Photo by: Nick Iwanyshyn
February 3, 2025
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We are two months away from the start of Grand Slam Track (GST), and the league has landed its biggest deal to date. On Monday, GST reported it had secured a groundbreaking three-way broadcast partnership with The CW Network, NBC Sports and Peacock. This agreement ensures that The CW Network will be the exclusive U.S. broadcast home for GST, while Peacock will be the exclusive online streaming platform. The deal promises extensive coverage of the inaugural 2025 season, with all four Slams aired live across North America.

In a statement, four-time Olympic champion and GST founder Michael Johnson shared his excitement about the new partnership: “We’re delighted to finally be able to announce this incredibly exciting broadcast and streaming partnership to all our fans in the United States. I’d like to personally thank both our friends and partners at CW and NBC Sports for putting together this agreement, which will help us continue to revolutionize the sport of track. We wanted Grand Slam Track to be seen by millions of fans, and we’re delighted to be delivering on that promise.”

A special highlights show featuring the best moments of the season will also air on NBC Sports on May 10.

The GST lineup

GST’s roster features 48 Racers, including top track athletes from around the globe, competing against 48 Challengers across four Slams in Kingston, Jamaica; Miami; Philadelphia and Los Angeles. The star-studded lineup includes 400m hurdles world-record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, triple Olympic Gold medallist Gabby Thomas, British distance star Josh Kerr and Canadian Olympic medallist Marco Arop.

Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone
U.S. track star Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone in the 400m hurdles at the 2024 Olympic Games. Photo: Kevin Morris

Each Slam will span three days, and Peacock will stream all days live, providing exclusive coverage of the first day of competition. The CW Network will only broadcast the Saturday and Sunday events live.

At the end of the 2024 season, Grand Slam Track was called out by many stars, including Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles, who said in an interview with ESPN that he wouldn’t sign with the league without a TV deal: “We could have the most wonderful performances at the Grand Slam Track, but, you know, if a tree falls in the middle of the woods and nobody’s there to see it, did it really fall?”

The league features 14 Olympic or world champions, but Lyles is one of dozens of reigning champions to skip out on the first year of GST.

The broadcast deal

The CW Network is America’s fifth major broadcast network, reaching 100 per cent of U.S. and Canadian cable television households. Each week, the network delivers 15 hours of primetime entertainment programming, in addition to 400 hours of sports per year, including U.S. college football and basketball games, Inside the NFL, WWE NXT, and NASCAR Xfinity Cup Series.

Brad Schwartz, president of The CW Network, says the network is thrilled to welcome Olympic champion Johnson and the inaugural season of Grand Slam Track to the CW Sports family. “Michael and his team have assembled an impressive roster of the top athletes from around the world for intense head-to-head competitions,” said Schwartz. “We look forward to introducing Grand Slam Track to our broadcast audience and believe it is an exciting addition to our growing roster of sports on The CW.”

GST will kick off at Independence Park in Kingston, Jamaica, from April 4 to 6, featuring head-to-head competition without pacing aids, focusing on the athletes’ performances—and racing, of course. Each Slam will have a prize purse, with the winner of each event group taking home US$100,000 and the eighth-place competitor earning US$10,000. The competition meets World Athletics regulations, with achieved marks eligible for rankings and world/Olympic standards.

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