World Athletics president Seb Coe says the soon-to-be bankrupt track and field league may simply be banned from resuming events in the future.
World Athletics president Seb Coe says the global governing body may not allow the return of the Grand Slam even if the controversial pro-athletic league settles its debts.
Michael Johnson, who runs the league, insisted that despite “significant challenges … I refuse to give up on the mission of a failed project” when GST filed for bankruptcy last week with millions of dollars in debt.
When asked about the situation during the year-end media call on Tuesday (December 16), Coe said: “We welcome innovation in sports. We welcome new investment, but it must be based on a sustainable, robust financial model that is run and delivered on behalf of the athletes.”
He added: “We create the calendar, we have to control the calendar, and we have to make sure that when there are new events, they come to the table with the credentials and assets that I talked about.
“There’s going to be a lot of different and new things over the next few years, and I welcome that. But it needs to be absorbed into a realistic proposition that is fireproof. It has to be sustainable.”
READ MORE. Big name athletes owe the Grand Slam track
Compared to the Grand Slam track fiasco, Coe says the new World Athletics Championships starting in Budapest in September will be different and not a happy accident, with 20 staff currently working on it.
