The Enhanced Games made headlines last month as they offered $250,000 for a single victory. Soon after, organizers offered a $10 million prize to anyone who could break Usain Bolt’s record in the 2027 edition. But 4x Olympic medalist Rai Benjamin decoded the strategy well. Despite acknowledging World Athletics has an opportunity of a lifetime right now, he believes nothing will change unless the current shot callers make way for fresh blood.

“I’m going to be controversial, I think there’s a lot of dinosaurs in our sport, and they’re not helping progress the sport because they’re afraid to take sensible risks,” he said, speaking to Olympics.com. By “dinosaurs,” he meant older decision-makers that he feels are making changes slowly.

“I think taking a risk and doing something like the Ultimate Championships, I think that’s good. Getting all world, Olympics, Diamond League champions there at a meet – that’s what people want to see. But I do think it’s moving in the right direction, but it’s just snail’s pace,” he added.

So, the crux of his argument is a simple one: track and field still relies on a handful of big shows, such as the Olympics and the World Championships, to get noticed around the world. The visibility decreases during other times.

In the Diamond League system, regular winners earn around $10,000 while higher-tier “Diamond+” events can pay up to $20,000. Final winners may reach around $30,000 to $50,000. Even at major championships, prize money remains limited, with gold medals often worth around $30,000, silver $15,000, and bronze $10,000. This fragmented pay structure forces top athletes to skip races for financial reasons.

As a result, rivalries are fewer and many weekly competitions struggle to hold the attention of viewers. But to end the gap, World Athletics introduced the Ultimate Championships in Budapest in September 2026, which offers $150,000 to the winner per event. Benjamin backed the idea of the Ultimate Championships.

If you compare it with league-based sports like the NFL and NBA, they maintain visibility throughout the year. The NFL averages around 17 to 19 million viewers per regular season game. The NBA averages around 1.7 to 1.8 million viewers per game in the US. Both leagues also offer far higher and more stable earnings, with NFL players earning a median salary of around $1,200,000 per year and NBA players earning a median salary of around ~$4,500,000 per year.

In contrast, track and field experiences its peak attendance only in major events around the world. World Championships can reach around 2 million US viewers; the sport does not consistently get the weekly attention it deserves. It is this gap that Benjamin is looking to fill.

In his words, the current system is improving, but only at a slow pace.  “I would have hoped that there would be more excitement from the American market for track and field given that we’re getting the Olympics in ’28. Maybe next year we might see that excitement emerge, but you never know.”

Now track and field has celebrity appeal, but if the top-level matches are less common, the higher-dollar events are less common, and there is no reliable season schedule, it won’t be able to go beyond Olympic moments. Even Noah Lyles has pointed out similar concerns about the sport’s direction.

Noah Lyles tries to fix track and field’s biggest problem

Noah Lyles has been a vocal critic about the lack of relevance of track and field away from the major events. However, rather than simply identify the problem, he has attempted to address it in his own way this year.

At the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, Lyles ran the 300m in 32.15 seconds, finishing just behind Jereem Richards’ 32.14. But what stood out even before the race was how he set the tone for the event. He made a WWE-style entrance from the stands, inspired by wrestler Jey Uso.

After the race, Lyles explained why that matters for the sport. “We got to have the crowd. We got to keep them entertained because at the end of the day, we’re asking for more energy, asking for more money, asking for more TV time. You can’t have that without popularity. You got to give what you already have, the love and care that it deserves. The moment you give them that, they’re going to go out and tell everybody you need to be here,” he said.

His mantra is if track and field wants more attention, money, and broadcast space, it also has to give fans something that feels engaging. Lyles believes storytelling, fan engagement, and consistent races can grow the sport.