Women’s track league Athlos canceled its third annual New York City event last week, but it’s still planning to pay $75,000 for the stadium where the event would’ve taken place.
Before the Oct. 2 event was canceled, Athlos had a contract that required it to pay $175,000 in deposits and fees. The contract, obtained by Front Office Sports, says that the deposit is still owed even with a cancellation.
Icahn Stadium, the 5,000-seat stadium that hosted the first two Athlos events, sits on Randall’s Island, which is New York City parkland. The stadium is operated by the nonprofit Randall’s Island Park Alliance, and that group would receive the $75,000 deposit from Athlos.
“We’re honoring all our contractual obligations tied to New York,” a spokesperson for Ohanian’s firm Seven Seven Six tells FOS.
Athlos, founded by Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian in 2024, has staged events at Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island each of the past two autumns, plus a long jump event in Times Square last year. Last week, Ohanian posted a video announcing the cancellation of the event, citing the event’s challenging timing within the track calendar, and promising to return at a better date for athletes next year. (The Diamond League ends this weekend, and World Athletics’ Ultimate Championship is the following weekend.) Athlos will still put on its Sept. 18 event in London, its first outside of New York.
“Ultimately we built Athlos at the very end of the season to make an opportunity for athletes to have one more go at peak performance,” Ohanian said in his video. “Based on feedback from y’all [the athletes], we now understand that’s the hardest possible place to be asking you all to show up at your best, given you’ve already given everything into a full season and our first meet in London, to ask you to do it one more time in New York was a step too far. I take that, I own that.”
Athlos lists more than two dozen athletes on its website and last year announced three as owner-investors: Gabby Thomas, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Tara Davis-Woodhall. Ohanian has said the league plans to launch a team concept.
Ohanian, who is married to tennis legend Serena Williams, also owns part of Chelsea’s women’s team and Angel City FC.
Athlos prides itself on its lavish spending and perks for athletes: First-place finishers of each of its seven events in London will walk away with $65,000 and a sterling silver crown designed by Tiffany & Co. At last year’s event in New York City, Ohanian said Athlos would make “millions” of dollars and increase revenue from the prior year by three or four times, partially due to a “striking” uptick in interest from sponsors.
Ohanian said in his social media post that Athlos is already planning a return to New York in 2027 as well as other events, hinting at “a bunch of announcements on the way.” Athlos had originally planned to move to a team-based league format this year.
He had earlier tweaked fellow track startup Grand Slam Track, which debuted last year but went bankrupt after failing to pay back athletes and vendors.
