Higher financial incentives are needed for bodybuilders to compete.
The dream of every aspiring bodybuilder is to compete on the pro bodybuilding circuit. In his latest podcast, Bob Cicherillo talks about the financial side of professional bodybuilding, and why many of the top professional athletes, are staying away from the competitive stage.
Many believe that professional bodybuilders are making a ton of money from winning pro shows and from their sponsors.
This could not be further from the truth in the modern era of bodybuilding. Professional bodybuilders are allegedly making less money from bodybuilding competitions and sponsors, compared to 20 years ago.
Back in the day, bodybuilders such as Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, Phil Heath, and many others, were making a lot of money due to their lucrative sponsorship deals, and incentives to compete more regularly compared to modern-day athletes.
In his latest podcast, Bob Chicerillo explained the situation perfectly, thanks to his experience from both sides of the fence, as a competitor and a promoter.
Going back 10-20 years, bodybuilders had more opportunities to make money. Some were on contract with Joe Weider, magazines also signed on athletes, and supplement companies offered lucrative contracts to athletes, including bonuses if they won an event, or placed well.
Having the opportunity to earn good money by competing, was a great incentive for bodybuilders to compete, but unfortunately, this has all disappeared in modern-day bodybuilding.
There are still some supplement companies that appreciate their athletes, but the financial perks are allegedly not the same as in the past.
Rather than the athlete being sponsored for his or her potential on stage, the companies today look at the return they can get from the athletes’ social media channels.
Popularity has taken over the importance of having a world-class physique.
All the mentioned are having a negative impact on professional bodybuilding competitions.
The Olympia Weekend and the Arnold Classic USA, are the only two major bodybuilding events, that offer a very high cash prize for the top five athletes. All the other events offer between $10,000 to $20,000 in prizes.
These numbers have hardly changed in the last 10 years, and Bob Ciherillo confirmed this.
“I was thinking about this the other day and thought to myself, ‘Well what has changed over the past 10 years that’s made this a little different.’ Well, lack of supplement contracts. This isn’t a topic a lot of people have explored but as somebody who has been on the block for a few minutes, I can tell you firsthand this has absolutely had an impact.”
“How? Really simple. In the old days, when you signed a supplement contract it was usually in the contract that they wanted you to compete X amount of times throughout the year so you were out there in the marketplace. You were out there representing yourself, representing the company in effect, and putting it forward, and of course, they wanted you to win a show or just try and do your best and ultimately try to get to the Olympia,” said Bob Cicherillo.
“If you had an athlete on your staff or on your team so to say, you absolutely want them at the Olympia. It’s the biggest stage we got throughout the year and in the world. Now with that, came the bonus structure. Usually, if you were to win a show there was a clause in your contract that might pay you a bonus, maybe it was $5,000 or $10,000 a lot of times they matched the prize money. If you won 20 grand they would match it with a $20,000 bonus. With fewer contracts coming in for these guys, there’s less bonus structure, and that of course, means there’s less opportunity and less money.”
Social Media has changed the face of bodybuilding
Chicerillo also mentioned that social media has had a big effect on bodybuilding. Professional and even amateur athletes, are finding easier ways to make money. In the past, a bodybuilder would have to compete three or four times a year, as that is what their sponsors demanded, but this has all changed today.
The majority of athletes will only try to earn their Olympia qualification once, and if they fail, they will not try again, until the following year. It would make more financial sense to stay at home and promote a brand they make a commission from, which in return would earn them more money.
Only a handful of athletes remain that continue to compete, with the ultimate goal of placing in the top ten at the Mr. Olympia or even winning the event.
Unfortunately, the bodybuilders that compete for the love of the sport, are the ones that sometimes lose out on lucrative contracts, as the company’s focus is on the work that has to be done outside of the gym, rather than focusing on their athletes’ results on the competitive stage.
Cicherillo also mentions this in his podcast.
“The guys aren’t feeling the heat that they’ve signed a contract with a company that says you need to compete three times this year. So, has that taken a toll, has that made an impact, I believe it has. There’s no obligation to get out there and compete other than your own goals and even those have changed. Social media has changed over 10 years.”
“Now, everybody has a platform to get out, put themselves out there, whether you’re a personal trainer, you have a podcast, you have other business ventures, whether you make money on YouTube or any other venture that’s out there. So all of a sudden, it maybe becomes not very important to compete,” said Cicherillo.
Prize money must increase
Preparing for a professional bodybuilding event is very expensive. When everything is added up, such as food, muscle therapy, supplementation, and other items, winning $10,000 just does not cut it.
Cicherillo and many others in the industry, have been insisting that more prize money has to be awarded if they want to see the top stars compete at their events.
It will take more than $10,000 to convince a top athlete to prep for an event.
“These purses got to come up, $20,000 should be the minimum.”
“And let’s face it, let’s not overlook and gloss over the fact that the prize money has not really significantly changed in the last 10-15 years. This is not good for anybody. Not in the sport, not in the federation, and certainly not for the athletes. A lot of shows are still $10,000 shows. I was complaining about this myself and a host of other people 20 years ago. 20 years ago… we were talking about $10,000 shows. You know what a lot of shows are today, $10,000 I’m talking about first prize. First-place prize money.”
“Maybe it’s a $20,000 purse, 10 for first, 5 breaks down from there. Literally with those numbers and the market of today, if you win a show and you win $10,000. You take taxes out. You take your expenses out. Preparation, money, travel, everything else that’s concerned. YOu don’t have a company sponsoring you or paying for these things — it’s out of pocket. The guy who wins the show loses money. I’ll guarantee it. If you win $10,000 for a show, you’ve just lost money,” said Cicherillo.
“This is something I do believe we need to look at as an entity, as a federation, as a community, what can the bodybuilding community do to increase prize money at the shows,” wonders Cicherillo. “The money has to come from somewhere. If it comes from sponsors well that’s one thing but sponsors are harder and harder to come by these days because of social media, direct to consumer, a lot of companies don’t have to be out in the marketplace these days.”
“But $10,000 purses and such, again, we all get it’s a stage and platform folks but that’s not going to cut it in this day and age and I think it’s showing itself. A lot of these guys are just opting not to compete. And that’s not good. Not for our sport and it’s not good for any sport,” concluded Bob Cicherillo.
It must also be taken into consideration that there are numerous more divisions, which all take from the prize fund that is available.
The only way a promoter can give a substantial sum of prize money is to focus only on bodybuilding, and hopefully attract the big names to compete.
We can use the 2023 Arnold Classic USA as an example. The organizers were having a very difficult time attracting the big names, but bumping up the prize fund to $300,000, convinced a number of undecided athletes to compete. Proving that money is a big factor, and bodybuilders will compete if the price is right.
