First, I know for a fact he did not make any money off of the shows when he started out in San Diego.
no one makes money when they're first starting out. but now he promotes 15 shows a year, including the USA, the California, and the IFBB California Pro Figure.
but we've lost track of why this was brought up. The AAU was a non profit athletic organization, with chairmen elected every couple of years. Shows were not meant to be money making ventures. You would host a show for a year or two, then it would rotate to someone else. The major shows would be in a different city every year, hosted by different promoters.
In the NPC, Lindsey will be the promoter of the USAs in Vegas until he retires or drops dead. Betz will have the Nationals and the Jr Nationals until she gives them up. Manion is president of the NPC for life. When you have a position for life, you tend to make decisions based on what's in your best financial interest, not what's best for the athletes.
What's in the best interest of athletes is to have more choices, more shows, more opportunities. What's in the best financial interest of Manion and Lindsey is to discourage competition by preventing B&A from getting good athletes.