Athlos NYC betting on women's track star power

NEW YORK : Entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian's latest big bet on women's sports kicks off on Thursday, as his novel, women's-only track event Athlos NYC hopes to open a new chapter for athletics in the United States.

Ohanian was the lead investor behind NWSL side Angel City FC, which became the world's most valuable women's sports franchise four years after its founding this summer with a landmark new ownership agreement that valued the team at $250 million.

He believes he can recreate that success on the track at Icahn Stadium, where he has lured some of the sport's brightest stars for Athlos' inaugural meet with super-sized prize money and an athlete-first approach.

"You just look at the follower counts, you look at the engagement. Women athletes - and in this example, with track - just are way more compelling," Ohanian told Reuters.

"I have a 'spidey sense' for where there are hyper-engaged communities of fans and women's sports has them in droves."

Six events will be contested across the meet, with the winners each pocketing $60,000 - twice the prize offered at the 2024 Diamond League finale - with a purse totaling $500,000. On top of that, 10 per cent of all event revenues will be distributed to participants.

"I asked these women, I was like, 'Hey, so what is your top prize at the end of a season for winning?' And they said $30,000. And I said, 'Great, I'm going to double it for one single race'," Ohanian said.

Athlos arrives amid a broader push to better compensate athletes in the sport. World Athletics paid Olympic champions for the first time at the Paris Games, with $50,000 going to each gold medallist.

The Diamond League, long seen as the standard-bearer for professional athletics, announced last week that it would raise