Mr. Olympia - Sold - To Wings of Strength - AMI is out

[stuntmovie]

Hey, Jarhead (respectfully stated), You could possibly be correct when it comes to the Olympia contest attendance numbers ... but overall it's gonna be a successful weekend (+ 3) when the bucks are tabulated.

Here's why I'm saying what I'm saying .... and it's possible that you may agree what I'm saying after I've said it.

The OLYMPIA is now a five day event starting on a Wednesday and collapsing on that following Sunday.

It's an important five day period for this town because it fills the Orleans and some of the other surrounding hotels and it causes long buffet lines.

Those Olympia week room rates are doubled (sometimes tripled) and no one (including us locals) gets a free fine-dining (buffet) pass during that 5-day period.

Then there's the Jr. Olympia event in the Orleans showroom from 8 to 8 in which hundreds of worldwide contenders do their best for a 'plastic' trophy after paying  a large amount of US dineros to stand up there on that stage and do what they gotta do as directed by that judge down front.

And all those showroom seats are filled on a rotating basis .... meaning that those seats are sat-in by more than one event fan who pays a minimum of $50 each time that seat is occupied.

And the better seats are $100 each but 'sold' more than once over those 12+ battle-field hours.

In addition all those hundreds of amateur contenders pay for their amateur NPC membership fee and then an impressive Jr. Olympia entry fee.

And add that all together they also gotta pay for the plane-ride, traine-ride, bus-ride or whatever ride it took to get here ... plus a 5 day hotel room fee of just about one-thou plus!

That a lot of money being spent by a lot of money for this five day Olympia event .... and a lot of those  dineros go to those who bring it here.

And then there is the Oly Expo where exhibitors pay a thou ($$) or so in order for us to become familiar with what they have to offer.

Those exhibitors also have to pay that old time, out of contest shape, competitor who stands there and shakes your hand  or who smiles with you for a $20 photo.

What I think I'm trying to say is that ..... The Olympia brings in a ton of money to this town and...... a hell of lot of that money goes into the pockets of those who bring it here.

So the Olympia ain't going nowhere! You may want it to .... but as sure as Chesty once said...."We ain't retreating nowhere!" (Or something like that.)

Today's fans who enjoy the 'bulk and blunder' part of today's pro Olympia extravaganza  may surely and slowly fade away but they'll all be replaced by a newer, insaner generation which will keep the action going.

The Oly itself will never fade away.

[hipolito mejia]

I bet this new owner of the Olympia is into men with muscles

And hopefully women with muscles as well.   

[6 Reps]

Sale price below $90M, and estimated at $70M by NY Post - https://nypost.com/2020/02/18/american-media-looking-to-sell-other-mags-amid-national-enquirer-deal-limbo/

What's really interesting in this article is that they're going to drop the printing of the magazines and they'll only be online.

I looked it up, AMI bought Weider in late 2002 for $350M.  If AMI has now sold it for $70M, that's a $280M loss, unless, in the past 17 years AMI made $280M from the magazines, Mr. Olympia, etc.  Is that possible?  What say you, OneMoreRep, aren't you a finance guy?  As an aside, AMI has been in financial trouble the past several years.

As for Mr. Olympia's future, I think it depends greatly on what the new owner does with it.  I don't believe it will ever fold, but on the downside it may lose it's rank as the crown jewel of bodybuilding contests.  It may become one of a "triple crown" of contests; the other two being the Arnold Ohio and The Rock's new Athleticon.   Again, I think the O's future is what the new owner makes of it.

[bic_staedtler]

I'm far beyond caring but with the AMI sale, bodybuilding on a professional level will go back to the relative obscurity it had before the days of Arnold. Some people will care but it will become as much an oddity as it was then.  Magazines have been going downhill since the teams during the Magazine Wars traded sides.

That Vlad guy behind the Generation Iron series should have made an attempt to buy the rights. He does digital right.

The king is dead, yadda yadda shaddafakap.

[stuntmovie]

You guys gotta think deeper than what you're think'en here!

Open your brain and let it absorb the bodybuilding surroundings.

And that includes think'en outside the 'box' .... and in this case that 'box' just so happens to be the present-day NPC and the IFBB wrapped together as a great big package.

If those organizations offered stock investments, I'd include you in ... and you'd be a damn fool to turn it down!

And your option to be a fool just might happen soon!

Sit back and think a bit more and a bit smarter than you usually think whenever you think about "Lifting Heavy Things 101". (Possibly a future Harvard business course for under-graduates who think business thoughts way beyond the normal.)

Haters love to hate successful people .... which is so damn evident on this GetBig board.

We hate those who win (Heath for instance ) and we hate those who lose (Palumbo for instance).

We hate the officials who call the shots which determines who wins the trophy. (Place official names see if you know any, but names are not important for most haters.)

We hate the millionaires who become too damn rich selling what we feel are bogus products  ... supplements for instance. (Insert names here.)

This hate-list could go on forever ... but that list simply hides the fact that something bigger is hidden within the hate-list-mist.

And that 'something bigger' is the immense growth throughout this planet regarding the lifting of heavy things and all that it entails.

And there are those among us (include me out) who are in a position to  take advantage of that worldwide phenomena.

But they sure as hell ..... ain't the haters!

More to follow......







  

[stuntmovie]

If you’re knowledgeable enough to add to or make corrections to any of te following … please feel free to do so ….

Not too many years ago  Joe Weider was alive and owned outright (along with his brother Ben?) the IFBB and all that it included such as the Olympia contest.

That caused him to have many haters such as the Hoffman guys (Bob included) and Dan Louri (spelling) , and may others within the lifting game.

But over the years Joe persists and Joe prevailes.

Joe had lots of help (but not too much) within the USA and outside of it …. and  what was called the IFBB  eventually and actually became an “International” federation.

But it was Joe’s desire to keep that federation small.

But Joe and Ben  eventually met officially with some former AAU/NPC  guys (include me in) and almost everyone at that Santa Monica meeting agreed that the IFBB would be recognized as the sanctioning body for professional bodybuilders within the USA and the NPC would be recognized as the sanctioning body for amateur bodybuilders within the USA and its possessions.

But even then there were haters (include me out)… and those haters objected loudly … but were eventually never heard from again and the AAU (bodybuilding) slowly drifted away while the NPC and the IFBB continued onward .

So Joe/Ben owned  the IFBB and Jim Manion oversaw the administration and growth of the NPC which was at that time was a tax exempt organization.

But Joe still wanted to keep his part small while it was apparent that Jim wanted to make his part larger.

Very wise on the part of Jim.

More to follow …

[stuntmovie]

On the news at present .... AMI RUNS A BLACKMAIL OPERATION.

Google it and it may give you a slight idea why Mr. Pecker sold the Oly at a sizable loss,

It also mentions Arnold, Bezos, Trump, and a few other un-usual suspects!

Has any GetBigger ever bought a copy of the National Enquirer or maybe subscribe on a yearly basis??

[The Scott]

...
Has any GetBigger ever bought a copy of the National Enquirer or maybe subscribe on a yearly basis??

Not even my IQ is that low.  Perhaps Straw Man or Prime are subscribers...

[milone79]

Doesn't anyone else wonder where the fawk this Jake Wood got that kind of money???

First order of business should include:

1) Fire Bob Chick.
2) Fire Weinberger and all the old guard of IFBB Olympia judges.
3) New head judge must be a former Olympia winner himself and the rest of panel should be made up of retired IFBB pros
4) Anyone with a gut on stage is relegated to last place regardless of "who" it is!!!
5) Relegate the Bikini Olympia to a side stage on a separate day from the big show!
6) Hire a professional film crew for once in the Olympia history and upgrade the webcast quality x 1000!!!

[Skeletor]

Doesn't anyone else wonder where the fawk this Jake Wood got that kind of money???

First order of business should include:

1) Fire Bob Chick.
2) Fire Weinberger and all the old guard of IFBB Olympia judges.
3) New head judge must be a former Olympia winner himself and the rest of panel should be made up of retired IFBB pros
4) Anyone with a gut on stage is relegated to last place regardless of "who" it is!!!
5) Relegate the Bikini Olympia to a side stage on a separate day from the big show!
6) Hire a professional film crew for once in the Olympia history and upgrade the webcast quality x 1000!!!

Good suggestions.

[stuntmovie]

MILONE / SCOTT, I almost also agree ... but it ain't gonna happen!

But isn't the Bikini event already contested within the Expo?

And I think that Bob does a good job except for those extra long delays announcing the winners.

[stuntmovie]

OK, without your permission I will proceed ....

So back then sometime (I'm bad at recalling dates) ... Joe drove the IFBB bus with relatively few passengers on board ... but each passenger  bought and paid for an IFBB card to hop on that bus.

During that IFBB-bus-ride a few passengers would win and receive  cash awards which did not amount to much back then but if they were well known enough a few could receive guest posing offers to appear at NPC events throughout the USA and receive a $600 - $2,000 paycheck (in cash for obvious reasons) for their name upon the contest poster and a 90 second posing routine while the judges did their tabulations.

Big Lou's dad took care of Big Lou's business and set a $5,000 guest posing fee for Loui ... so Big Lou was not in great demand by those who paid the bills.

On the other "bus' ... Jim Manion was the NPC driver and that bus was much more 'fuller' and required bus drivers throughout the US tuo load those buses and keep them moving.

There were many bus wrecks along the way ... but the NPC continued to grow regardless.

Jim, as well as many others, prove to be a damn good drivers  and the NPC grows by 'leaps and pounds' with many riders, while Joe placed limits on his bus-rider capacity.

And a lot of stuff happens that all GetBiggers are experts on ... such as Pecker's buy-out and all that that entailed ... yada ... yada .. yada!

And then Joe dies! ......

Oh, .... Shit!

[The Scott]

MILONE / SCOTT, I almost also agree ... but it ain't gonna happen!

But isn't the Bikini event already contested within the Expo?

And I think that Bob does a good job except for those extra long delays announcing the winners.

Bodybuilding needs a Matrix/Zion level reset.  It is nothing but disgusting now. Being built now means being drugged to the maximum and dying early.  Nothing but a temporary facade.  John used to tell me about how in D.C. they would destroy an old building leaving the "front" just standing there and build anew behind it.  I never saw it but I don't see how he would make that up!   

Not even a set piece that can be used over and over on different movie sets.   Think of how many times a certain hallway/staircase was used in the original TV series, "The Wild, Wild, West".  I can't count the number of times I saw that same stage on the show.  Different but still the same thing underneath the paint and furniture.

Come to think of it, Bodybuilding is like the film industry.  All CGI now for movies and ALL drugs for "bodybuilding".

[JAGO]

Got to wonder about the Olympia. I hope Dave at RX can please interview Dan.

J