$4,000 for a 5th place finish in the Olympia? Man the prize money is bogus.

[TOMMYPITERA]

$4,000 if you finish 5th in some of the divisions at the Olympia. All that sacrifice and abuse done to your body for that? Many athletes walk away with $0 dollars for qualifying for the Olympia. And no, supplement sponsorships don't pay the bills sorry. Most companies just give you free samples or tubs of protein powder or pre workout and apparel to wear and post on social media unless you are a superstar winning the Olympia or being a top 3 guy every year.

I mean honestly compared to other sports if a guy had the talent to compete in the NFL or Pro Bodybuilding, do you really think they would choose Bodybuilding over an NFL contract? The bare minimum contract in The NFL is like $750,000 per year. Not even CBUM makes $750,000 per year competing in Bodybuilding. Most of his income comes from the business he owns (Raw Nutrition).

The guy has nothing left to prove. He should just retire and enjoy his life down in Florida.

A pro bodybuilder really should just compete for 4-5 years max and then focus on business and go to the gym as something they enjoy doing.

 

[Diesel59]

Which divisions are you talking about? I know men's open gives at least 5-figure paydays to everybody in the top 10, but I'm not too familiar with the prize money in the other divisions.

To answer your question, anybody would take NFL money over bodybuilding money. However, keep in mind that the length of the average NFL career is only around 3 years. And that's including the likes of Tom Brady and various kickers/punters/long snappers who play for well over a decade or sometimes more. Most guys are in the NFL for a cup of coffee and that's it.

Bodybuilding at least has the potential to give you a long career that can be branched out into other ventures, such as Bumstead's supplement company as you mentioned. It's also worth mentioning that the "peak" years for a lot of guys in bodybuilding are in their mid to late '30s. In almost any other sport, that's retirement age for most athletes.

 

[CohibaRobusto]

I'd be willing to bet a lot of this has to do with how the organization is run. They could do a lot to make more money off of the sport. This should have been a well publicized ESPN type thing that all sports fans would be interested in.

Instead it's a tiny niche audience that even knows it's going on. Not many ways to watch it, and I heard the paid streaming options were horrible quality.

 

[Diesel59]

@CohibaRobusto How much appeal to you think this has for the masses? I feel like no matter what they would have done, the event would have been overshadowed by the World Cup Final, late season NFL action and arguably even basketball and hockey.

I fully agree it's too difficult to watch. The technical issues are inexcusable in 2022.

 

[CohibaRobusto]

@CohibaRobusto How much appeal to you think this has for the masses? I feel like no matter what they would have done, the event would have been overshadowed by the World Cup Final, late season NFL action and arguably even basketball and hockey.

I fully agree it's too difficult to watch. The technical issues are inexcusable in 2022.

I think a lot of people would be interested in watching at least some of it. I don't think it's the type of thing most (non-bb'ers) people would plan their weekend around, but would watch if they saw it on ESPN or a big network channel.

 

[Diesel59]

I think a lot of people would be interested in watching at least some of it. I don't think it's the type of thing most (non-bb'ers) people would plan their weekend around, but would watch if they saw it on ESPN or a big network channel.

When you put it that way, I can see what you mean. My dad and I used to watch "World's Strongest Man" on ESPN2 back in the day. We didn't seek it out, but it was interesting and it was on.

I think social media has probably opened some eyes to bodybuilding who didn't care beforehand. I've noticed in particular people having an interest in Classic Physique.

 

[CJ]

Numbers I pulled from the interwebs...

In 2021, the 32 teams of the NFL generated revenue of 17.19 billion U.S. dollars.

IFBB peak revenue was $8.5M in 2021.

So the NFL generated over 2,000x the money of IFBB.

Of course NFL players make more money, it's basic economics.