After ‘declaring victory’ in year one, Athlos goes bigger with brands

There’s almost always something unusual to see in Times Square, and this month, it was a long-jump track.

On Thursday, athletes including Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall made their qualifying jumps under the lights of the Big Apple to kick off the second year of Athlos NYC, a women-only track and field competition founded in 2024 by Alexis Ohanian. Tonight, the three winners—Davis-Woodhall, Quanesha Burks, and Jasmine Moore—will go on to compete in a long jump at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in NYC, where Athlos is also hosting six track events, followed by a Ciara concert.

Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, husband to Serena Williams, and an early investor in the NWSL team Angel City FC, said at a press event Thursday that he stood up the event to spotlight track athletes outside of Olympic years and aimed to blend “music, culture, and sport” as a way to attract attendees, viewers, and brands. This year’s new field event, plus plans for a league on the horizon, has led to increased sponsor interest, Athlos CMO Kayla Green said.

“On the commercial side, no question the traction is there,” Green told Marketing Brew. “Some of our partners this year are multiyear partners, so they see the value in this in the long run, even as we’re going to take a dramatic shift in the competitive style of the events next year.”

In lights

During Athlos’s first year, Green said organizers were largely focused on “product-market fit” and earning athlete trust. When the competitors gave positive feedback, it was “the proof that we needed to say, ‘Let’s keep going,’” Green said.

The spotlight is meant to shine most brightly on the athletes, but as with any major sporting event, sponsors are eager to share it. Toyota is back for a second year as a sponsor, and new brands include Cash App and Instacart, Green said; Essentia, SharkBeauty, and Tower 28 are also activating.

Athlos’s pitch to sponsors hinges on storytelling opportunities with track and field athletes, made possible because Athlos owns the rights to all of its content, including the broadcast, Green said. Her team touted the 3 million viewers the competition drew last year, and the difference in interest due to that figure was “striking,” Ohanian told press Thursday. He estimated revenue was 3x–4x higher this year than last “as a result of the fact that we were able to declare victory after that first event.”

Athlete pay is a major focus for the organization, and for the second year in a row, all competing athletes will receive 10% of event revenue. There’s also a $60,000 prize and a Tiffany & Co. crown for first-place winners. In addition, brand partners are providing additional perks for competitors, Green said:

• Cash App is paying eligible athletes prize money as soon as the results are confirmed and offering a $250,000 bonus prize to anyone who sets a world record at the event;
• Instacart, which is sponsoring a kids zone and youth races, is providing curated “snack packs and survival packs” for athletes;
• Toyota is offering athletes on-demand transportation;
• And The Realest, a sports memorabilia company, is authenticating and auctioning off items from the competition to “help document, preserve, and share artifacts and memorabilia,” founder and CEO Scott Keeney said in a press release.

The next hurdle

Last year, Athlos reached millions of viewers with media rights deals designed to make the action accessible, Ohanian said. This year, Ion joined as a domestic linear broadcast partner under a multiyear deal, with Brooks Running Shoes serving as a presenting sponsor. But, as is the case with many women’s sports properties, there’s still room to grow.

“There isn’t a brand that we talk to that doesn’t have women’s sports on their radar in some way, and I think the biggest challenge right now for any brand who wants to come in and sponsor women’s sports is scale,” Green said. “It’s not there. We’re not on all of the major networks. We are on some of the major networks, but not enough airtime. Scale has just become a real challenge for a large brand who comes in, and they want to buy at the reach and frequency of the NFL.”

With that said, the global representation of athletes and fans is attractive to brands, according to Green, and the organization is leaning in. In 2026, Athlos is set to roll out a team-based league, with Davis-Woodhall, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Gabby Thomas attached as owners. All of them have major followings of their own, which “certainly helps,” Ohanian said Thursday.

“We’re not at F1 size yet, but I want people to be able to take for granted that this sport, which is…the biggest sport during the Olympics, can have that same platform,” he said.