So first let me preface this with a little bit of info. I'm a sports junkie, with Track & Field being my favourite sport. I've watched pretty much every Olympics, World Championships, U.S. Championships-Trials, Commonwealth Games etc since a baby in the early 90s.

And I've gone back and done my history and watched, educated myself on the history of the sport even farther back.

Now with that out of the way. ATHLOS 2024.

Simply put that was easily the best produced, presented one-off Track invitational that I've ever seen. Sadly, I wasn't able to fly into NYC to attend (I won't be in town until NEXT WEEK) but it looked amazing.

I wouldn't say I was skeptical, but I definitely wondered how Alexis Ohanian was going to pull this off. Not only for the viewers but also the athletes to commit and compete. Well, the ATHLOS team wowed me. Just amazing.

Promotion: Right out the gate ATHLOS did a great thing getting the 1st big name to sign-on (Gabby Thomas) and use that as a foundation to spread the word and get things off the ground. She's the perfect ambassador and the choice paid off as she went on to win 3 golds in Paris. She didn't win in NYC but that really didn't matter.

The spots in Times Square with the athletes, the creative team's work on socials (I loved the subway clip), the ads, Alexis doing his homework and touching base with all the major commercial media platforms in sports and music (HOT 97, Breakfast Club), plus with the rising new era of T&F media (Citus, etc) was wonderful.

Athletes: Considering when the event was scheduled it was going to be very tough to pull in a lot of huge names but ATHLOS pulled it off and got a nice mix of Olympic Champions, World Champions, medalists, and people in general that competed in Paris. It was well balanced.

Broadcast: The broadcast was smooth. Yeah the 20-minute gaps between events may have been off putting to some but it was clear ATHLOS came with a plan to fill in those gaps and they did pretty well. I appreciated them bringing in Track legends like Gail Devers, but also current stars like Kendra Harrison for sit-down interviews during those moments. The spots were also well done.

The graphics, branding/ticker on the broadcast was perfect. Clear, informative. Even the start-lists online showed the world-lead AND personal bests WITH the year! You never see that.

Bringing in vets Sanya Richards-Ross and Paul Swangard (who I prefer over Leigh Diffey) was a great move and I hope they continue to be the one-two team moving forward.

Crowd: I wasn't there in attendance but the main stand looked PACKED from what I saw on the broadcast. Icahn Stadium hosts the USATF Grand Prix every year and used to be a Diamond League location, generally the stands were only packed when a prominent Jamaican athlete would be running (tri-state area has a huge Caribbean, Jamaican T&F crowd that always shows up there). To see a packed crowd for a mainly American event was good to see.

Stadium: I've never seen Icahn Stadium dressed up like that, it looked great. As a person that's also into style, aesthetic, fashion the only issue was the stage. Kind of looked like an eye-sore. Obviously has to play a factor but I think a wider stage with an actual set-design (Willo Perron comes to mind) would've looked better.

The Intricacies: The Tiffany and Co. crowns were brilliant. The crown presenters wearing white gloves! The various celebrities, influencers and fellow athletes that came out? amazing. Alexis definitely utilized his relationships in entertainment, etc perfectly. Saw a lot of teens and kids that were in attendance which I loved.

Cons - Feedback:

TRANSLATORS! Paulino is one of T&F's top athletes it's a disservice she didn't get a post-race interview on stage. Translators should've been on hand for both Paulino and Duguma who both won their races. Also sticking on the subject of Paulino, I'm curious if there was an extra level of promo and marketing done in heavy-populated Dominican and Puerto Rican (Camacho-Quinn) communities in NYC? I think if both return next year ATHLOS' marketing needs to go the extra step and tap into those communities too.

Perhaps presenting the crowns to all the winners at the end of the Track portion maybe better. Some will say the intermissions were too long. I personally didn't mind them, just keep the creativity going filling those gaps without coming off as corny. Maybe tighten it up to 15 minutes. Also, the 100m Hurdles race the starter should've called that back and reset the runners. 3 of them flinched.

Maybe call on more past champions to show up for interviews, honouring moments during the event. Gwen Torrence, Regina Jacobs, Joanna Hayes, Michelle Perry, Jearl Miles-Clark, Allyson Felix, Carmelita Jeter? I saw 1988 Olympic gold medallist Diane Dixon was a little bummed she didn't get an invite.

https://x.com/DianeDixon/status/1838911778266259909

Scheduling: The meet was 2 weeks after the regular season pretty much ended so I know a lot of the athletes were mentally and physically near empty. So the timing was good and bad. Good because it was the only major track event to speak on and promote. Bad because athletes peaked almost 2 months ago and tonight specifically in NYC the Giants and Yankees were playing, though the viewing demographic was probably different. With the World Championships ending the season in 2025 and 2027, both in Asian cities (Tokyo, Beijing), I'm curious when ATHLOS 2025 will happen.

Conclusion: In the end it was a brilliant showcase and it has already made an impact as the Diamond League announced they've upped the prize money for athletes. Something that should've been done YEARS ago.

I'm curious to know what was spent to put all of this together, and what was made back from the event. But in the end this wasn't about making money, it was about making change, leaving an impact and creating a new legacy with this meet.

I saw Alexis Ohanian announce on Twitter it's coming back next year so that's wonderful. I think the post-meet buzz definitely opened eyes and will have more big names wanting to join next year. Imagine if Sha'Carri Richardson, Shericka Jackson, Athing Mu, Nikki Hiltz, Tobi Amusan decide to join? PHEW!

Sidenote #1: I wish the state of NY would invest in renovating Icahn Stadium into a state-of-the-art T&F venue. I think the sport needs better go-to 10-15k capacity T&F stadiums in major cities like NY, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Easy cities track fans can get to, unlike Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon which is tough to get to and is terrible accommodation wise.

Sidenote #2: Who has a contact for Alexis and ATLOS? hahaha. With my knowledge in T&F, and working 10 years in the music industry I'd love to get a gig with an innovative, cultured brand with ATHLOS in the sport I love.

The End.