I remember when ESPN had bodybuilding on frequently. Even had a show with the top stars demonstrating training. In one move they got rid of all of it and replaced it with billiards pool table competitions in their former time slots. I heard it was the drug factor of the sport that pushed their hand in not wanting to be associated with it anymore.
I can watch reruns of The World's Strongest Man contests from the 1980's on a Saturday night and those guys were juiced to the gills. Some of the cable channels can't have more than 5 or 10 thousand viewers nationwide so it can't be a ratings thing. Ring of Honor wrestling shows like 5 times a week on different channels on satellite and I swear some of their crowds are like 100 people.
As far as drugs go Viceland shows people getting stoned on almost every show. Shows like Weediquette, Bong Appetit, Intervention, Hamilton's Pharmacopeia and Dopesick Nation.
The IFBB, NPC, NABBA and any other bodybuilding organization needs new marketing teams to get bodybuilding out there as a thing regardless of ratings. When people see it more there will be more interest. Most people and especially sports fans don't even know that pro bodybuilding exists. There are so many obscure sports that are televised now and bodybuilding is getting beat out by curling and snow boarding.
Channels they should target: FS1, FS2, NBCSports, CBSsports, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNNews, ESPNU, 4 alternate ESPN channels, TNT, Spike TV, etc.
