Jim Manion’s Pro League athlete membership rules cause controversy.
The bodybuilding world was turned upside down earlier this week when the new professional athlete membership rules were published for Jim Manion’s Pro League.
The new rules were first published and changed after an uproar, especially from the retired pro athletes, and this caused quite a controversy.
Originally, the rules specified that if any pro, new, old, or even retired, does not pay their pro membership after a year, they will lose their pro status, and will have to re-qualify to earn their pro status.
The first version of the IFBB Pro athlete membership rules.The main points were:
New qualified pro athletes
• Any athlete that just earned their pro status, has one year to pay their membership and become an active pro athlete.
• If the qualified pro athlete does not pay their membership in one calendar year, and becomes an active member, they will lose their pro status and have to requalify.
The second part of the original set of rules caused the most controversy.
Existing pro athletes
• Any existing pro athlete who decides not to renew their pro membership status can stay inactive for up to three years, but if they fail to renew their membership in that time frame, they will lose their pro status and will have to requalify to become a pro.
• Any athlete who earned their pro status before 2023, had until December 31, 2025, to renew their pro membership. If they fail to do so, they will also have to requalify to earn their pro status. For example, if Big Ramy did not pay his pro membership, he would have to requalify as an amateur.
The active pro athletes and even retired athletes were not happy with these rules, and some, such as Fouad Abiad, said that he was “offended”. Just because he was retired and did not renew his membership, he would lose his right to call himself an IFBB Pro.
Jim Manion modifies rules after backlash from the bodybuilding community
Not long after Jim Manion’s Pro League, published the original set of pro athlete membership rules, they made a U-turn and made some slight modifications to keep the majority of current pro, and retired veteran athletes happy.
The main changes were as follows:
New qualified pro athletes
• A new amateur athlete, that has earned their pro status, has up to one calendar year to pay their membership and activate their pro status. If they fail to do so, they will have to requalify. This set of rules for the amateur athlete was not changed from the original set of rules that were published a few weeks earlier.
Existing pro athletes
The new set of rules was modified slightly for current and retired pro athletes.
• As of 1 January 2024, any athlete who does not pay their pro membership, and activate their pro status, has up to three calendar years to remain inactive and not pay their membership. If the pro athlete fails to do so, they will have to be required to become a pro again.
Example (As published on IFBBpro.com): An IFBB PRO Athlete becomes an Active member by signing the “Athlete Membership Agreement” and paying the membership fee on May 1, 2024. The athlete competes on May 18, 2024, and then decides to take time off and does not renew for 2025. In this instance, the member’s Active status automatically changes to Inactive at midnight on December 31, 2024. The member may remain Inactive for up to three years or until December 31, 2027. If the member does not become Active by December 31, 2027, the member’s IFBB PRO status will be revoked. To regain IFBB PRO status, the member must requalify through a Pro Qualifier contest.
The retired pro and veteran active pro athletes vented their frustration, stating nobody has the right to remove their right to call themselves “IFBB Pro”, just because they are no longer competing, or qualified before 2024.
The modified rules for existing pro athletes
• IFBB PRO Athletes who held IFBB PRO status before January 1, 2024, but who are inactive may remain inactive without the loss of their IFBB PRO status. When they become an Active member, they will then be subject to the “three-year rule”.
Example (As published on IFBBpro.com): An IFBB PRO Athlete last competed in 2019 and has not since renewed. The athlete chooses to become an Active member on January 3, 2025 and therefore, is now subject to the “three-year rule”.
Important points that the majority of active pro athletes are not noticing.
Any pro athlete who earned or held their pro status before January 1, 2024, may remain inactive, if they do not pay their membership, without any time restrictions. This modified rule is very good for retired pro athletes, such as Shawn Ray, Kevin Levrone, Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, and hundreds of other legendary athletes.
But, if a pro athlete, who did not pay their membership, and earned their pro status before January 1, 2024, and is still planning to compete, pays their membership and becomes active, they will immediately activate the “three-year rule”, meaning if they don’t pay their membership and become active in three years, they will have to requalify to become a pro.
A perfect example is this: Jay Cutler stopped competing in 2013. If Cutler did not pay him membership after 2013, he remains an IFBB Pro, since he earned his pro status before January 1, 2024.
For example, if Jay Cutler decides to come out of retirement on January 1, 2025, pays his Pro membership, becomes active, and competes at the Arnold Classic on February 28, 2025, he will automatically activate the “three-year rule”, and will have to pay his membership by December 31, 2028, or lose his pro status, and have to requalify as an amateur to earn his pro status.
A pro athlete should always remain a pro.
If you ask any pro athlete, they will tell you they earned their pro status fairly, and nobody can take that away from them, they believe that they should have the right to be called an IFBB Pro for their entire life.
This works for pro athletes who earned their pro status before January 1, 2024, but for the athletes who earned their pro status, after January 1, 2024, they are forced to pay the pro membership fee at least every three years, or they are forced to requalify for their pro status.
If a pro decides not to compete for several years, their pro status should not be removed, but they should just pay a higher membership fee if they would like compete.
This procedure is not exclusive to Manion’s Pro League.
Several pro bodybuilding federations around the world, treat their pro athletes in the same manner, forcing them to pay membership fees to keep their pro status.
This in return for federation or private company, is a great way to bring in large amounts of cash.
For example, for the average pro athlete membership, the member registration is between $250 and $300 per year.
The NPC hands out over 1,200 pro cards every year, which means, that if the registration fee to activate the pro card is for example $250, Manion’s Pro League will bring in approximately $300,000, just from pro membership fees.
If the new pro athlete wants to compete as a pro immediately, they will have to pay that fee, and the same goes for veteran pro athletes, meaning Manion’s Pro League and other federations that have the same procedure, have a good amount of cash coming in just from registration fees.
Fewer pro cards should be handed out.
Back in the early 80’s and 90’s, only a handful of pro cards were awarded every year, meaning that whoever turned pro, truly deserved it, and was already a world-class athlete.
Back in the day, a pro card was awarded to the overall winner, meaning only four or five athletes would earn their pro card every year.
The prestige of the IFBB Pro card has been watered down in recent years, there are way too many pro cards being handed out
Fast forward to 2025, thousands of pro cards are awarded every year, and not only the first-place athlete is awarded a pro card, but on several occasions, the top three are awarded pro cards.
The majority of athletes who are awarded pro cards never step on a pro stage, meaning they are not pros regardless if they won a pro card. Changing their Instagram status to IFBB Pro does not make them a pro athlete.
The majority of athletes who have won their pro card in recent years, are not at the level they should be to compete on the pro circuit.
If a lightweight bodybuilder wins his class and loses the overall title to a heavyweight bodybuilder, he does not deserve the pro card. But if the same lightweight bodybuilder defeats the heavyweight bodybuilder, he then deserves to compete on the pro circuit, as he proved he is capable of defeating the bigger athlete.
A perfect example is Dexter Jackson, who competed as a lightweight and light-heavyweight during his amateur career. Dexter proved he was capable of defeating competitors double his size.
Pro cards should be awarded only to the athletes who deserve them and should be kept by pro athletes who actually compete on the pro circuit.
Pro athlete membership fees are not the main source of income.
According to Blue Archer, the company that takes care of NPC amateur athlete registration, the NPC allegedly has over 50,000 members, meaning Jim Manion allegedly brings in over $7.5 million yearly, just from amateur athlete registration membership fees.
Jim Manion is not the only federation or private company that makes a substantial amount of income from amateur athletes, meaning the bodybuilding world’s major income comes from amateur athletes and events.
Pro events cost promoters and federations large amounts of money, due to several perks the pro athlete has.
If the event is an invitational, the pro athlete will most likely have their flight and accommodation paid for, plus the prize fund that increases yearly.
Even if the pro event is not an invitational, the promoter still has to worry about the prize money.
This is why, promoters prefer amateur events. Thanks to contest registration, tanning, photography, crossover fees, and event sponsorships, the promoter can make a very good profit from amateur athletes, compared to pro events.
