With the exception of Ronnie, Jay, Dexter (those Arnold wins) and MAYBE Gunter, no one else is earning more than 200K from bodybuilding alone. After taxes and expenses, 99% of these guys are very lucky to clear 100K/year. You guys are deluded if you believe the hype. Most pros are drug dealers, plain and simple. For every guy that gets caught (Victor, McCrary, Arntz, Titus) there are a dozen that get away with it.
Milos will tell you how much Weider was paying him. Lee will tell you how much Prolab was paying him.
Weider paid rookies 30-40K with very minimal increases each year unless they did something outstanding. Muscletech was getting guys like DuVal and Freeman and JJackson for cheap.
Don't be fooled. Guest posings are built into the contracts. When Cutler was making $400K at ISS, they had him either guest posing or giving seminars 50 weekends/year out of town!!! That's straight from Jay.
As for "merchandise" it's a joke. The same 200-500 schmoes buy the merch. A pro would be lucky to sell 100 t-shirts/videos in a year. Once the career is on the downswing and the endorsement deals dry up, it's time to either become a full-time drug dealer (name deleted), a full-time drug addict (Titus), or a full-time trainer at the local gym (Prince).
Special "JobVault.com" Ed
