Chick,
It's good of you to answer the fans as you do... but you're fighting a losing battle defending the IFBB and it's policies:
The very reason the IFBB has been the only show in town is simple...WEider was smart enough to get all the best guys in the world to compete in HIS federation...EXCLUSIVLY.
...not true.
Weider didn't pass out contracts in exchange for exclusivity as you infer in your comment, he simply blackballed anyone who competed in any other federation... he even blackballed a few guys just for guest posing at rival events. To this day you, Chick, have trouble getting active athletes to attend the athletes meetings as they are afraid of being blackballed and/or unfairly placed at upcoming competitions if they speak up (or are perceived to have spoken up)... and let's not even mention the "U" word (Athletes Union) as that would result in whoever said it AND anyone who heard it being banished from the IFBB forever.
The sad part of all this is that the IFBB got it's footing by offering transparent, fair and impartial judging in stark contrast to the behaviour of the AAU. Suddenly black athletes (such as Sergio Oliva) and openly gay athletes (Chris Dickerson etc) could win contests.... now that Weider has a monopoly similar to the AAU monopoly of the '50s the corruption is worse than it was then:
I enjoyed watching your victory at the Worlds Bob, but it was shameful that Rusty Jeffers was deliberately misplaced... and the fans are savvy enough to see how it is done: the first callout is either the three guys who placed 1st 2nd 3rd last year, or the guys who will place 1st 2nd 3rd this year... Rusty Jeffers never even got a comparison against you Bob, did he? That's something I'd like to see raised at an athletes meeting; how the comparisons can move a guy from 2nd (maybe 3rd) down to 8th.
Isn't it ironic if the IFBB is now penalising athletes based on their "lifestyle choices"?
Would we be having this discussion if Bob Hoffman's AAU simply used their monopoly to blackball athletes
that competed in the IFBB?
Once you get past "the best 25 BBers in the world"...there is little fan base or market to be had....quite simply put...there aint enough to sustain two federations...never has been, probably never will be.
As to your question of allowing athletes to compete for the other team...WHY WOULD THEY? Busines 101 my friend.....
...that's simply facetious.
It's less "Business 101" more "Exploitation 101".
If there isn't enough market to support two federations why do the IFBB go out of their way to crush any and all rival federations... when the WBF started up all the athletes that defected got good salaries out of it, but more importantly, the athletes that stayed with the IFBB all got signed up to exclusive contracts that payed actual money: not the opportunity to compete in fixed contests with guys who placed top three last year and will place top three no matter what this year.
Open markets are better for workers, monopolies are bad for workers and workers rights... the sole purpose of a monopoly is to stifle competition and abuse/exploit workers/customers... that's Economics 101.
Would the Patriots allow Tom Brady to go and play for the Cowboys? Or play for the European league in the off season? NO. Granted, they pay him for his services, the IFBB doesn't have a payroll...so what you get in compensation is the opportunity to compete for purse and to sign supplement deals with companies that are affiliated with the IFBB....membership has it's priviledges....look no further than our good friend Lee Priest for a shining example....left the federation to seek greener grass, made a few sheckles competing, LOST more opportunities with endorsements, questposings, etc......PDI dries up....thanks for coming.
...Do the Patriots forbid all the guys who tried out for the team and didn't make the cut from ever trying out for another team? If I go for an open tryout with the Patriots; don't get picked (like an also ran IFBB'er who makes no money) then tryout for the Cowboys and get picked, am I blackballed from professional football and told to start my own federation?
For the record, Lee won more prizemoney competing in the PDI than he would have won competing in the IFBB... we both know that the IFBB brought pressure to bare on publishers/supplement companies/sponsors etc in order to prevent Lee earning money from contracts and guest posings... the fans know this too, so your argument is the defense of a scoundrel.
For some, it may not pay off....WHY? Because Pro BB in the IFBB isn't 4th grade T-ball where everyone gets a hit at the ball regardless of athletiic ability....the BEST will ultimately make more money, get more endorsements, sign biger deals, make more appearances, etc....
...that's why the fans were so happy with the Olympia placings this year: the guys were placed solely on merit... sponsorship dollars had nothing to do with it.
To think that the guys ranked 30-50th in the world could simply be competing in another federation AND making money is laughable at best.....
If the guys (the best ones) WERE allowed to compete elsewhere....the same guys would be winning, and the same guys who arent making money now...STILL wouldn't be making money there...!
...during the late seventies and early eighties there were loads of federations: NABBA; WBG etc etc... blackballing athletes was the only thing that allowed the IFBB to win out over its rivals.
Let's consider the WBF situation...
-the top athletes who defected to the WBF all made good money out of it (much better than they would have made in the IFBB)
-the also-ran athletes who defected to the WBF made some money (they wouldn't have made any with the IFBB)
-the top guys who stayed loyal to the IFBB were all signed up to exclusive contracts (the IFBB didn't lower its prizemoney, so these guys all got a salary AND the chance to move up a few spots in the prizemoney when they competed)
-the also-rans who stayed loyal to the IFBB... well some of them actually were signed up to exclusive contracts just for fear that they might also defect to the WBF, and some of them even placed in the money a couple of times
...the only thing that suffered was the IFBB profit margin (which is already tantamount to profiteering; just ask anyone who ever had to pay an IFBB sanctioning fee AND the ludicrous expenses of the officials).
The athletes are better off with lots of federations... so are the fans (more smaller shows become viable for smaller promoters and provide more guest posing opportunities for the top athletes, and title unification contests become big business).
The only ones who lose out are AMI/Weider... their profit margin can easily allow for other federations and they know it, if margins were really tight they wouldn't even bother attempting to blackball rival federations as they would know it wasn't financially feasible.
Didn't Weider make $350 million off the sale of the organization?
It's all so short-sighted... if I owned AMI/Weider, I'd forcibly split the IFBB Pro league into two federations (maybe even a third natural division)... it just makes evolutionary sense.
The Luke