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≡ BANKRUPTCY UPDATE ≡
“The Debtor does not have sufficient available sources of working capital and/or financing to operate its business or maintain its property in the ordinary course of business without the DIP [debtor-in-possession] Facility and authorized use of Cash Collateral.”
That’s the situation in which Grand Slam Track finds itself, as noted in the 23 December 2025 Order issued by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Delaware. In a 21 December filing, the Chief Restructuring Officer, Nicholas Rubin, noted its financial situation, requiring a rescue loan:
● $143,126 in cash on hand
● $31.4 million in debt
● $5.3 million in secured debt to Winners Alliance
● $6.1 million in unsecured debt to Winners Alliance
● $7.0 million owed to athletes
● $13.0 million owed to suppliers and vendors
Winners Alliance is the commercial – for-profit – arm of the Professional Tennis Players Association, and was the primary funder of Grand Slam Track. It provided $13 million in start-up capital in return for equity in the venture in April 2024. According to the Rubin filing:
“The Company therefore retained PJT Partners (“PJT”) to conduct a formal capitalraising and strategic outreach process. The engagement contemplated a broad-based market check, including outreach to strategic investors, family offices, private equity sponsors, venture capital firms, and new entrants to the sports and entertainment investment space. Between January 2025 and March 2025, PJT contacted more than 150 potential investors on behalf of the Company and facilitated extensive diligence and management engagement, including the distribution of marketing and diligence materials, provision of data room access, and coordination of live management presentations.
“During this period, members of the Company’s management participated in more than 30 live pitch meetings with prospective investors, addressing topics including the planned structure of the inaugural 2025 season, projected operating results, capital requirements, and potential paths to scalability. Despite this extensive outreach, many prospective investors declined to proceed or deferred investment decisions, frequently citing the early-stage nature of the league, the absence of completed operating results from a full season of competition, uncertainty regarding the ramp-up of media and sponsorship revenues, and the lack of a committed lead investor.”
In March 2025, possible investor Eldridge Industries decided to wait on committing to Grand Slam Track until seeing the first meet in Kingston, Jamaica on 4-6 April, and thereafter declined to participate. That caused the financial collapse of Grand Slam Track.
The recap noted that the three meets in Jamaica, Miramar, Florida and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sold a total of 64,566 tickets with “merchandise sell-outs at each event.”
Winners Alliance continues to have faith in the concept, and in the 23 December Order, will provide further loans of up to $3.25 million, and will have first call on repayment. The loans are being made at a quite-sharp interest rate of 14.5%.
But that $3.25 million will not go to pay off vendors and suppliers, or for most of the athlete expenses. It costs money to be in bankruptcy and the Order included a 13-week budget from 19 December 2025 to 20 March 2026 of $3.03 million:
● $1.58 million in operating expenses
● $1.45 million of restructuring expenses
The operating expenses include $421,643 in salaries and does include $200,000 for “Racer Contract Guarantees,” about 2.9% of the remaining debts to athletes.
The next major step comes in January, per the loan agreement:
“On or before January 30, 2026, Borrower shall have filed a Disclosure Statement and a proposed Chapter 11 Plan, which shall provide that GST emerges reorganized with Michael Johnson and Stephen Gera remaining as officers of the Reorganized Debtor and be in form and substance acceptable to Lender in its sole discretion.”
Gera, a former Marine who served in Iraq and later worked with teams in the NFL and NBA, joined Grand Slam Track in January 2024 and has served as President and Chief Operating Officer. He and Atlanta 1996 Olympic icon Johnson began discussions about the Grand Slam Track concept in mid-2023.
The loans are due to be repaid, or possibly converted into equity, by 15 April 2026.
Observed: Winners Alliance is willing to spend some more money on Grand Slam Track to see if it can make it pay and is keeping Johnson in charge. It will be an uphill climb, for sure, but the Philadelphia meet showed that there is fan interest.
But Grand Slam Track cannot go forward without paying off its debts, especially to the athletes. That’s the key, and any future ventures are going to require cash-in-advance to athletes and vendors.
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