Alexis Ohanian: “We want to help inspire the next generation”

Alexis Ohanian wants to help inspire the next generation in track and he’s already getting started.

The co-founder of Reddit officially launched ATHLOS NYC (September 26) – previously known as the 776 Invitational – around a fortnight ago (July 11), marking the occasion with some big name signings.

Alexis Ohanian

Faith Kipyegon, who recently broke her own world 1500m record of 3:49.11 with 3:49.04 at the Paris Diamond League, will race over the distance at ATHLOS NYC.

The Kenyan “hopes to inspire women around the world” and is one of four names so far who have officially been announced for the meet.

World mixed 4x400m champion Alexis Holmes and Olympic and world 200m medallist Gabby Thomas are also confirmed.

The latest signing is British sprinter Annie Tagoe, who was part of the GB squad that claimed world 4x400m bronze in Budapest last summer.

The purse for ATHLOS NYC is: First place: $60,000; Second place: $25,000; Third place: $10,000; Fourth place: $8,000, Fifth place: $5,000; Sixth place: $2,500.

Grammy Award winning artist Megan Thee Stallion will headline during the evening, D-Nice will DJ and each athlete will get their own walk-on song.

For Ohanian, who co-founded and invested in Angel City FC and Los Angeles Golf Club, the primary focus must be on the athletes but that fan experience is also pivotal to the event’s success.

Before the Paris Olympics, AW caught up exclusively with Ohanian on why he thinks there is a market for athletics, its marketability and aims of inspiring the next generation of track fans.

What was the inspiration behind ATHLOS and what’s the reaction been so far?

The inspiration [to ATHLOS] came last year. I started feeling the same ‘spidey sense’ that I had in 2019, when women’s soccer, from an investment standpoint, was the biggest opportunity in all of sport. That led me to helping start Angel City. These were the months leading up to the Women’s World Cup. I knew this [soccer] was a sport that everyone would pay attention to and it made no sense to me that people would stop looking at it straight after the World Cup.

I knew I could market it all day long and I now see the same pattern with track. Here is a sport that every four years, we’re all paying attention to and it’s so exhilarating. There’s a history of excellence, especially from American women, and I thought ‘gosh, what I missing?’ Why is not a part of the cultural psyche outside of the Olympics?

In many ways, I think being an outsider has helped. My first instinct is to talk to the people already in the sport and ask them a lot of dumb questions! From the point of view of technology, we think of the key stakeholders. Here, Gabby Thomas was one of the first to lean into ATHLOS but I ended up talking to loads of track stars who were willing to take my call.

What I found was a huge opportunity to create something that could ride on all of the energy from the Olympics. We want to remind folks that these are some of the fastest humans on the planet and they deserve this blue chip setting, not just during a Games. We’ve seen all of the momentum [since the ATHLOS announcement]. I didn’t know SPRINT was on its way too and that’s helped bring the sport to the masses.

What do you hope to get out of ATHLOS and how important is the fan experience?

I feel very strongly that you have to earn your way into these spaces. Just like in women’s soccer, you’ve got to show up in the right way, so we’ve got to start our focus with the athletes. I watched my first track meet in Eugene [US Olympic Trials] and I felt so much love from these women. They were kind, supportive and felt seen, based on our idea.

We’re looking for those adopters to be leaning in and thinking that this is dope. We want them to feel that they can be a part of it. We want folks to come away from three hours at ATHLOS and think ‘that was as much fun than any other sports event I’ve been to in New York’.

There’s an intersection between running, music and fashion. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that they go well together. You’ve got a world class DJ in D-Nice and you’ve got his natural cadence. There’s all this anticipation for the races, you’ve got a drink and there’s a great vibe on a balmy Thursday night. Think of it as US Open tennis energy during a night session at Flushing Meadows.

The lights go out. The music stops and then each athlete comes out onto the track. It’ll be like a boxer walking into the ring and that’s the grandeur we want to give each athlete. I asked dozens of these women whether they wanted their own walk-on song and pyro and 100% of them said yes. When I pitched to them about having an F1-style non-oval track, they said it was a terrible idea. I was like, ‘great, this is really helpful feedback’.

The gun goes off and the fastest athlete wins. My seven-year-old [Olympia] will be there and it will be easy for her to understand. Likewise, the same will go for my dad! They’ll have a good time, we’ll crown the winners and then we’ll reset the track for the next race. We want folks to leave and to be fans of the sport if they weren’t already.

Let’s take F1 for example. I’ve been to a number of F1 races and I wasn’t really into the sport, like most Americans, before Drive to Survive. When I went to the Miami GP it was surreal as so many of my friends across different industries were in one place. I saw people from business, tech, finance, entertainment as it was a cultural moment. How many of them are actually paying attention to the cars? That’s not to disrespect F1 but what they’ve nailed is to create something bigger than just the sport.

I’m sure we can absolutely do this in track. When I tell this analogy to the athletes, they’ve all come back and said ‘hell yes, we need this’. When you get that feedback it’s great. It’s celebritising the athletes in the right way. We have this for the Olympics. Why not for the rest of the year?

What impact do you think ATHLOS can have on the wider sport?

This is just one event so far and we haven’t even done it yet, so we need to remember that. You know, nothing will be as big as the Olympics but we want to give these women, a lot of which will compete or have competed at the Games, the recognition they deserve.

Most of the fans who are going to this event may never have watched an Olympics in person. So we want to help inspire the next generation. That’s why we’ll have a section, just after the finish line, which houses local kids from the New York area that all run track. It’s inspired by European fan sections.

The why? These are very loud and energetic fans. It’s great for everyone to feed off that energy. They are also the ones that’ll soon choose to be professionals in the sport. Up until this point, they may have not seen anything like this live. It gives them a visual path towards being one of those world class athletes on the track.

What are your memories of athletics growing up and what do you make of the current athletics landscape, with it changing quite a lot?

I love seeing all this momentum after our announcement and I also love the fact that Michael Johnson has launched his own competition [Grand Slam Track].

I grew up in an American football household and we barely even watched tennis when I was younger. My dad would actually change the channel! I didn’t really follow anything else. I looked at the occasional basketball and baseball games but that was about it.

I think it’s served us pretty well as with other sports now, I come into all of these situations understanding sport through one lens. So I can look at it without the bias of ‘this is how it’s always been done’. But I still have a tremendous respect for it. Whether that be Alex Morgan, Tiger Woods or track stars in this case, they’re willing to chat and I can learn quickly.

Track’s always been one of the most watched sports at the Olympics with the likes of Usain Bolt and Florence Griffith-Joyner over the generations. I’d always wondered what they did outside of the Games. I mean, I’d never even heard of the Diamond League until recently.

So when these track stars break through at the top level and a lot of people don’t know about the leagues underneath, you go ‘oh that’s an opportunity and that’s where I want to invest’. In business we’ll celebritise CEOs. In sport, it’s not about the owners but the athletes. It’s human beings putting their entire lives doing a kids game at such a level that me or you can’t fathom.

Do right by the athletes and everything else follows. If the likes of Gabby [Thomas] and others can make extra money off a brand deal as a result of being at ATHLOS, then we’ve done our job. Raising their profile and cashflows is great for everyone.

Does this extend to men in the future and will you take ATHLOS out of the US in the future, potentially having one event in London?

We firstly have to earn our way in initially before we grow and expand. Our family certainly has great memories in London and we have great affinity for the city. We never intended for ATHLOS to be a one time thing. London has an amazing community and fanbase for the sport. We certainly want to see ATHLOS on a big stage in America. I mean, there’s one Diamond League in the US! But I think what ATHLOS can potentially do is massive and so many big cities have, not to pardon the pun, track records of being receptive to the sport.

[On whether this may extend to men in the future] Everyone knows about the disparity between men and women in so many sports. Thanks to Billie Jean King, tennis was one of the first sports to offer pay equity. At Flushing Meadows, more Americans will watch the women’s final than the men and that’s the legacy of Serena and Venus [Williams].

In track, what was so interesting that because of brand deals, that some of the top women make as much as the top men. From a marketability standpoint, a lot of the women have massive followings and a fanbase. I also didn’t hate the idea – and none of the athletes have hated this – that the women would get something new and innovative first.

I wouldn’t rule it out though [ATHLOS extending to men]. I’ve got so much respect for the men in track and what they do is amazing. I’d love to see it expand eventually. I’ve had so much success in women’s sport so it felt like a natural starting point.

Is there a danger that the sport could be saturated?

I think we’re so far away from saturation that I’m not too concerned. Gosh, there’s going to be so much more to do in the sport, I don’t think it’s an issue. The athletes haven’t raised this point as well and no one’s been like ‘there’s too much on at the moment’.

For more information, visit athlos.com and follow @athlos on social media.

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