Now that the 2015 Olympia is in the bag, it's time for me to comment on some of the more notable aspects of the weekend and shed some light on what's to come amid the curious announcements made prior to the weekend kicking off. Now, as I well know, people can become impassioned about their beliefs in certain things, and to wit, social media has been rife with assaults and degradation for the combatants involved here. I'm rather just going to state my case based on what is factually known and let you draw your own conclusion; then I'll give you my opinion.
The first and most egregious incident was of course the news that three-time runner up and heir apparent to the crown-- should it be knocked from Phil's head-- Kai Greene was not going to be allowed to compete. Now, if you 
listen to Kai, he claims he was “not at liberty to discuss,” why he was banned from not only the competition, but also the Olympia Expo! I thought I was the only one able to pull off such a stunt? But, the question remains; banned by who? No one said. Everyone assumes it was the federation.
Kai is the most popular guy in the sport, as evinced by his over 3 million followers on social media. One would have to ask, WHY, after a year of preparation, blood, sweat, suffering and tears, would the most popular and well-liked guy in the industry be banned, practically, from Las Vegas? Was it the IFBB or the Olympia promoters who banned him from attending this year's event, or another evil entity?
Well, if you listen to Dave Palumbo's assessment of the situation, according to the powers in charge of the Olympia, Kai was totally welcome to compete; in fact they WANTED him to compete, but Kai never signed his contract. WHY didn't Kai sign his Olympia contract? That seems to be the $250,000 question that no one wants to answer, or are not at liberty to answer. However, regardless of whatever relevant and accurate facts are known, many people are still blaming the federation. Let’s get real; that's like blaming Ferrari for a speeding ticket.
The impact of Kai's dilemma and the implied fault of it being that of the IFBB (with no proof whatsoever) rose all the way to the very top of the IFBB food chain and landed on the desk of one Texas NPC district chairman and prominent former IFBB Olympia judge, Lee Thompson. Once seated among the very top of the IFBB/NPC power players, Thompson juts recently joined the ranks of former head judge and ranking IFBB official, Jim Rockell and jumped ship; however, not so quietly.
Peppered with names and events that have no involvement with his new enterprise, Thompson put out an impassioned video announcement, via social media, denouncing the IFBB/NPC for its flagrant disregard for the direction bodybuilding is taking. He claims that after listening to competitors and officials alike from around the world, he’s decided to cut his ties with the NPC and start his own NPC whose intended purpose is to the right the alleged wrongs of the first NPC.
Are you confused? Well, you should be. So was I. So, I discussed the situation with my IFBB Physique Pro wife, who also happens to be an attorney specializing in intellectual properties. Valerie is quite well versed in these pesky little laws in America that protect intellectual and proprietary properties as a defensible right to the consumer. So, I can factually tell you that what Thompson is proposing violates a barrel full of trademark and copyright laws. He's never, in a million years going to get away with creating a new NPC called the NPC. Or NPC Global or anything else related to bodybuilding and fitness using that acronym.
So, while the title “NPC Global” will be dropped in the “do not use” bin – probably in the amount of time it takes to read this – I'm going to go ahead and use it in the content of this article, only because it makes me giggle every time I type it. “NPC-Global...” hahaha, that's some funny shit. I don't know if it's more ballsy than stupid, but, whatever Thompson is smoking, that's some funny shit! If the entity is what you detest, why take its name? Reasoning like that comes right out of a crack pipe: “Nspire Physique Championships.” He really had to work to come up with an organization name that had the word “physique” in it and, as well,` accounted for the same acronym as the National Physique Committee.
But even if the NPC never filed a trademark for its acronym, the intellectual property laws would still protect them because of how long and how successful the name has been while in use. It's like opening up a hamburger stand and calling it “McDonalds.” With or without the trademark, the intent of naming your place McDonalds is to confuse the public. First and foremost, laws are intended to protect the public. Even if it's from a counterfeit Big Mac. So, the fact that the National Physique Committee (the real NPC) has been operating as a sanctioning body for bodybuilding and fitness events since 1981 is a failsafe for its continued existence in the eyes of the law.
Jim Manion had just stepped down as chairman of the AAU Physique Committee when he launched the NPC. Through his efforts, the NPC became the most successful and largest amateur bodybuilding organization in the U.S and is the amateur feeder division of the IFBB. In order to become an IFBB professional bodybuilder in the US, you must first place accordingly at an NPC pro-qualifying event, such as the Nationals or USA, ect. Certainly there are other organizations and federations in America that also promote amateur bodybuilding and fitness events and have a professional division, but the NPC and the IFBB are the largest, most well-known and most revered. Kind of like Starbucks is to coffee.
The NPC and the IFBB have been the venerated federations for decades. While some may feel an IFBB pro card's prestige has been diluted somewhat because of the sheer number of them being awarded, the fact remains that the IFBB/NPC is the biggest and most prestigious game in town with a history steeped with great champions and pivotal industry events. You can't just wake up one day and steel the name. As it relates to bodybuilding and fitness, “NPC” stands for the National Physique Committee. It is not, nor ever will be, associated with Nspire Physique Championships. That is a pipe dream if not a deliberate flouting of a basic fact of law in America. Thompson better realize that quickly before he shovels a ton of money into his lawyer's bank account. A first year law student with one legal pad and a dull pencil could win this case for Jim Manion and his NPC on just one Red Bull and a half an Adderall. It's the slammiest of slam dunks.
Apart from the almost instantaneous suicide of NPC Global for it's impossible attempt at hijacking the NPC acronym, that fact remains that bigger names than Thompson's have attempted a new federation to rival the IFBB/NPC and all have failed. In the 90's WWE Chairman Vince McMahon gave it a shot with the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF) and in less than three years it was gone, devastating several pro careers in the process. A decade later, former IFBB pro league chairman Wayne DeMilia tried rivaling the IFBB after he jumped ship with his Pro Division Inc (PDI) which lasted for two measly shows before it faded and died.
Now, Lee Thompson has proffered a similar vision of a federation without borders that welcomes competitors from all federations around the world to join and compete wherever and whenever they want; just like Paul Dillett did in Canada. Mind you, I said “Canada,” as in “other country.” And Dillette's WBFF is nothing like what the NPC does in America; it’s a totally different arena with a totally different agenda. In fact, they don't even have men's bodybuilding and he didn't name it the IFBB or NPC; global or otherwise. Dillett moved as far away from the IFBB/NPC as he could; he didn't set out to hijack it. Be that as it may, Thompson wants to take the Dillett move a few steps farther and not only steal the NPC acronym, but also share with the athletes the revenues generated by NPC Global. This is where it gets really out there....
As far as I'm concerned the term “revenue sharing” in bodybuilding already exists; it’s called “prize money,” and last I heard you have to earn it. It's not just given out because you decide to compete. There is no cogent business mode that will support anything else. Prize money is a division of the take. The reason a promoter puts on a show is to keep the take, not give it away. If there is going to be a measure of revenue sharing calculated by even the most liberal of non-Jewish accountants, it could only amount to pennies. That’s certainly not worth throwing away your chances in the real NPC. Remember, once you compete outside the NPC, you're not coming back.
However, let’s try not to let Thompson confuse you. Whatever you want to call it, “revenue sharing” or “prize money,” these remunerations are awarded to professional athletes. If you receive prize money or direct sponsorship other than tuition, you are a “professional athlete.” On the amateur level, i.e., the NPC, you can't have any division of revenue because the spirit of amateur competition is that there is no prize money. If there was then it wouldn't be an amateur division. Only pro athletes can earn money from their sport. In the case of bodybuilding, that is done in the IFBB.
So, what's Thompson doing then? By his proposed revenue sharing, he is in effect making every competitor who joins his organization a professional athlete. What, you don't have to qualify? But, that's what you do in the NPC (the real one), you EARN your pro status. Will any athlete really want to win their pro status just by signing up? His whole proposal is like a baited hook dangled in the face of a hungry fish.
“Wow! We're going to get paid,” says an NPC Global hopeful. But, from where will Thompson derive his revenue to share? The majority of the IFBB/NPC sponsors won’t go near him out of loyalty. Entry fees and ticket sales, you ask? While there are only entry fees in amateur events, the idea of sharing revenues with its entrants is something you could only dream of on mescaline. What, charge an entry fee and then give some of it back? Seriously? A portion of your friend's and family's ticket sales too? Did he even think this through?
So, Thompson's idea of sharing revenue with athletes (which makes them pros) essentially means he's going to have to fund it largely himself. I know this guy has more than a few bucks, but he's not likely to be sharing his own money with anyone.
If anyone is able to share revenues, it’s the supplement companies, and those “friendly” with the IFBB/NPC have been doing so for quite some time. Can they afford more? I think they could. According to Forbes magazine, one of the fastest growing industries in the world is the nutrition supplement group, accumulating about $32 billion in revenue - for just nutritional supplements alone - in 2012. According to the Nutritional Business Journal, it's projected to double that by topping $60 billion in 2021. Right now, in America, the top tier of bodybuilding supplements – marketed by such companies who's $300,000 booths you visited at the Olympia this weekend – are raking in revenues with eight zeros to the left of the decimal point. So yes, they could afford more. But they are by no means obligated. This fact has cemented certain relationships within our industry and created a fierce loyalty to the dollar. Upsetting an apple cart shod with 345 mm wide tires on 20 inch rims, H&H springs and Bilstein shocks with traction control “on” isn't likely going to happen. With the IFBB/NPC's well established axiom: “if you're not with us then you're against us,” such disrespect and disloyalty is not likely to bode well for any sponsor of NPC Global, not to mention any athlete they represent or who steps over; and they know it.
So what does all this mean? Thompson's video was the lamest thing I've ever seen, with this philosophic dare to dream and “our time is now” rhetoric that sounded like sound bites from Hillary Clinton's campaign. He incorporated the most sought after bodybuilder in our industry presumably so he could get a key word hit on his name, not to mention the critique Arnold gave after the Arnold Classic where he called out Jim Manion about the judging. He even says at one point in the video “I spoke with Jim.” Anyone knows the NPC and Jim Manion go together like spaghetti and meatballs, but not Jim Manion, nor Kai Greene nor Arnold have a thing to do with NPC Global. No one of sound mind boards a ship with a giant hole in it. My opinion? A green bottle fly locked in a room with Edward Scissor Hands will have a longer life expectancy than NPC Global.
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