Matt C,
I think BBing has a lot of value. I just think, as a sport overall, they're underachieving. You have a population of 310 million people (in USA alone), and 95% of them want to look better. Bodybuilders and fitness/figure look good (when not taken to the extreme of course).
They're just not reaching potential because they choose not to. Whether it be old grudges, or just the complacency that comes with "I'm rich and I am happy and I don't see a need to grow", I don't know. I do know that a real PR firm could make BBing more mainstream. Ask 1000 people what they like/dislike about bodybuilders or a BBing show. Then start making changes. The only changes we've seen in the last 2 decades are prize $ increases below the cost-of-living rate, and wider guts. Go back to 1975 when the trend was growth, see why they stopped growing. Stop catering to the weird old men and start catering to what you ascertain to be the interest of the masses. Of course, you'd have to take ego out of the equation to do that.