Back on October 10, 2025, Alexis Ohanian’s Althos made a bold claim on social media. They declared that Athlos NYC 2025 at the Icahn Stadium got a full house. No tickets available for them to sell. But then came a reply from rapper and NCAA sprinter, Erin ‘Spider’ Brown, with a truth bomb for the co-founder of Reddit. This quickly turned ugly… But not for Ohanian.

Brown took to X and shared a screenshot of StubHub that showed that plenty of tickets were still available for the Athlos NYC 2025. The screenshot showed tickets ranging from $41 to $87. But Ohanian swooped in with a response. He wrote, “I got you,” and shared a screenshot of a conversation with ChatGPT. Well, he declared that StubHub isn’t actually like any other ticket sales platform. It’s like a “trusted babysitter for tickets.” People who initially bought the tickets, can put the ones that they don’t want on this platform and trade it for something else. Meanwhile, the fans who actually want the ticket to that particular event can buy it for the right price. 

This extracted a vivid reaction from Brown. He wrote, “So mfs bought all the tickets and put em up for sale on a 3rd party site is what you’re saying right?” And it was time for the Athlos boss to clap back. Alexis Ohanian replied, “You’re so close! Only SOME of the people who bought tickets from us are REselling them on stubhub. In fact now look at all that’s left 🫣just six listings. Thanks for the free marketing I guess and don’t hesitate to ChatGPT in the future to save yourself the embarrassment.” 

Well, the war on X was far from settled. Seemingly enraged by the backlash from Ohanian, ‘Spider’ decided to attack the event’s ‘sold-out’ stance once again. He kept emphasizing that Ohanian possibly gave away the tickets for free and announced the sell-out at the Icahn Stadium. But it was a streamlined process and discounts on ticket sales that helped garnering more spectators to the event.

How did Alexis Ohanian manage to sell all tickets for Athlos 2025?

The co-founder of Reddit has a soft spot for great teams and work culture. Building a great culture is what Alexis Ohanian aims for. And when he launched the women-only track meet back in 2024, he got a shipload of love from the netizens. He didn’t just make every other female athlete perform in the track. Instead, his team sent an invitation to the best of the best. And that helped form the battle of the elite that we all love. But it was Ohanian and his team’s strategic planning that helped the event be successful. 

Of course, the netizens weren’t really happy after they were unable to live stream the long jump at the Times Square. But for those who had the time and were in the vicinity, they watched the event for free. Athlos invited the fans, claiming, “This is not a ticketed event, it will be free for the public & first come-first serve.” And the fans had to comply, since this was a first-of-its-kind event that happened at the Times Square.

On top of that, Athlos put some intense thought into the athletes. They didn’t just award them a portion of the purse. Athlos partnered with ‘Freshtix’ for selling tickets, and also added 10% of all ticket sales, sponsorship money, and revenue from broadcasting. This made the event the most rewarding one in history for the women in track and field. And bringing in Serena Williams to put the Tiffany Crown on the winners has further enhanced the invitational’s popularity. And we can certainly expect it to go higher. =