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18 June, 2025

By Grand Slam Track

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Grand Slam Track™ and Sundial Media & Technology Group today announced a groundbreaking partnership aimed at revolutionizing the way fans experience and engage with the world of track.

New York, NY (June 18, 2025) — Sundial Media & Technology Group (SMTG), a human connections company and home to iconic brands like ESSENCE, AFROPUNK, and Refinery29, and Grand Slam Track™, the global home of professional track competition, today announced a groundbreaking partnership aimed at revolutionizing the way fans experience and engage with the world of track. Together, the two companies are launching an innovative model that transforms passive viewership into dynamic community-driven interaction—turning fans into active participants in the culture, competition, and storytelling of the sport.

This new multi-year collaboration will fuse SMTG’s deep legacy in culturally connected media with Grand Slam Track™’s pioneering approach to global track competition. SMTG will secure strategic commercial partnerships for Grand Slam Track™’s 2026 season and beyond, with 10% of all related sponsorship sales secured by SMTG paid directly to Grand Slam Track™ Racers. Additionally, Grand Slam Track™, and its signed Racers and Challengers, will be featured and celebrated across SMTG’s entire network of media entities, publications, and brands, with in-person activations at major events, and a spotlight shone on the biggest names in track.

SMTG will collaborate with Grand Slam Track™ to bring exciting new experiences to tens of thousands of track fans in attendance, and millions watching around the globe. With SMTG’s proprietary technology and Grand Slam Track’s revolutionary compensation structure, this collaboration delivers a new blueprint for equity in track -- scaling storytelling, monetization, and visibility for athletes the same way SMTG has done across media and consumer brands.

“Our partnership with Grand Slam Track™ marks a bold expansion for Sundial Media & Technology Group into the world of sport, where over 100 years of cultural fluency and community wisdom can now fuel a new kind of playbook, ” said Kirk McDonald, CEO of Sundial Media & Technology Group. “True transformation comes when competition meets community. Our new model will turn fans into co-creators, athletes into owners, and track into a stage for immersive cultural experience, all while powering athleticism through equity, access, and storytelling.”

In its inaugural season, Grand Slam Track™ has already rearchitected the competition format of track racing for the modern sports audience—one that values personality alongside performance, and social connection alongside spectacle. Through this new collaboration, fans will gain unparalleled access to athletes' journeys, behind-the-scenes moments, and real-time content that turns every race into a cultural moment. The partnership will center on building a vibrant digital and real-world social ecosystem that elevates Grand Slam Track™ competitors, creates two-way storytelling with fans, and amplifies the sport’s cultural resonance.

“As a sport, track has some of the most compelling athletes in the world—but for too long, fans have been kept at arm’s length,” said Michael Johnson, Founder and Commissioner of Grand Slam Track™. “Grand Slam Track™ set out to change that, and has seen unbelievable support from all around the globe since we launched. Our pilot season has been a huge success, and we’re delighted with the tremendous response we’ve received. Now, looking ahead to our 2026 season with SMTG in our corner, we’re closing that distance between fans and our Racers even further, and revolutionizing this sport through this incredible partnership. We’re not just building a league—we’re building a movement.”

The partnership will include:

• Interactive digital content and athlete-driven storytelling across social and media platforms
• Live event experiences that blend competition with culture, music, and fan participation
• A new media platform that allows fans to co-create, share, and own pieces of the narrative
• Exclusive behind-the-scenes access into the lives and training of athletes

The joint venture will see Grand Slam Track™ solidify its foundations that have been built during its inaugural season, rolling out their 2026 calendar of events in key U.S. cities, plus international locations, and broadcasting and streaming across multiple digital platforms in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Additionally, Richelieu Dennis, Founder and Chair of The Sundial Group of Companies and Founder and Managing Partner of New Voices Fund, has invested into Grand Slam Track™. Dennis was key in forging the strategic relationship between Grand Slam Track™ and Sundial Media & Technology Group.

About Sundial Media & Technology Group

Sundial Media & Technology Group (SMTG) is a human connections company — the signal powered by culture, scaled by technology, and built for community. SMTG connects, elevates, and empowers the most influential consumer segment in the market: HER, the Chief Influence Officer. With over 100 years of community knowledge and insights, SMTG is redefining the media model into a next-generation platform. Powered by proprietary intelligence and AI technology, it activates an ecosystem that scales HER influence and economic power. Its portfolio includes some of the most iconic, purpose-driven brands and experiences shaping culture today—ESSENCE (Girls United, ESSENCE Studios, ESSENCE Festival of Culture™), Refinery29, AFROPUNK, Beautycon™ (including NaturallyCurly), the Global Black Economic Forum, the Academy for Advancing Excellence, and the New Voices Fund. Through storytelling, products, and platforms, SMTG delivers the tools and technology to shape the future of media, commerce, and community—on HER terms.

About Grand Slam Track™

Grand Slam Track™ is the global home of elite track competition founded by four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson. The league is redefining the landscape of track with a focus on head-to-head competition between the fastest humans on the planet: fostering rivalries, celebrating racing, and putting fans first. The league features a roster of 48 Racers signed to compete in four annual Slams and includes superstars like Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Grant Fisher, Josh Kerr, Marileidy Paulino, and many more. These Racers compete against 48 Challengers, who vary per Slam; each Slam features the largest and deepest prize purse in the history of the sport. The inaugural Grand Slam Track™ season in 2025 saw Slams take place in Kingston, Jamaica; Miami; Philadelphia. For more information, visit grandslamtrack.com.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Ben Sosenko

[email protected]

Callum Squires

[email protected]

Christanna Ciabattoni (Sundial Media & Technology Group)

[email protected]