Why Alexis Ohanian Thinks Women’s Track Is Ripe for Heavy Investment

June 13, 2024

Alexis Ohanian, the wealthy Reddit cofounder, serial sports investor, and Serena Williams’s husband, went through the experience recently with track and field. In an interview with Front Office Sports, Ohanian said he spent the past few years going deep into track’s almost quaint culture of posting wars and social media accounts. “There’s such an energetic fan base that’s so engaged online,” he said. “This is the heat that I’m drawn toward. You can’t fake that. If you have this vibrant community online that has its memes and its culture and its in-jokes … you can build a ton.”

Unlike most of his fellow posters and lurkers, though, Ohanian had the money and influence to act on his frustrations.

In April, Ohanian announced the 776 Invitational, named after his venture capital firm. Details were scant, but two items stood out: It would be a women-only track meet, with an enormous prize purse. FOS