The article below was written early on Wednesday, February 5th and had not yet been substantiated. However, after several phone calls from athletes, it became apparent that the speculation was true. American athletes Jerry Pritchett, Nick Best, Robert Oberst and Dimitar Savatinov all received invitations to the 2014 World's Strongest Man in Los Angeles, California to be held in the next 7 weeks. More as this develops.
Last year when it was announced that CBS Sports would be taking over the television rights to World's Strongest Man, the industry wondered how it would affect the sport as a whole. Last year's event in Sanya, China, according to all of the athletes I spoke to was a near disaster; illness, heat, humidity, resort being unable to meet athletes needs, etc., things could only get better. CBS Sports I would imagine would have had nothing to do with the choice of venue, I think it is safe to say that was left to the sports producer, IMG Worldwide.
Giants Live, run by the very well respected Colin Bryce, has been the primary vehicle for athletes to qualify for the World's Strongest man, traditionally contested in very late summer or fall for the Christmas season airing. Well, it appears that the 2014 season will be a bit different. Sources tell me that not only will the 2014 WSM event take place once again in Los Angeles as it did two years ago, but will take place at the end of this March. What does that mean?
Well, to the obvious... the only two events that will be contested prior to the proposed March 23rd heat #1 start date are the Arnold Strongman Classic Feb 28 - March 1 in Columbus, Ohio and the British Strongman championships. The British championship is actually only days before the beginning of qualifying for WSM in Los Angeles.
To the less obvious... who and how will the athletes qualify? Rumor has it that the roughly 30 athletes normally 
qualified will actually be hand picked by the promoters based on a variety of reasons. Placings in last years WSM. Placings in last years Giants Live events. Placings at the Arnold Strongman Classic, U.S. Maybe even dipping into the field of top placers at Americas Strongest Man which is historically not considered during qualifying process.
More importantly, why such an early date for such a huge event? Well, the assumption can be made that CBS Sports wants the WSM to air during a quieter part of the year like their summer lineup when all that WSM has to compete against is Stick and Ball sports. It sure is easier to put your money into something that stands a chance of being seen by a larger audience when baseball is in session, more so than when Football, Hockey and Basketball all dominate the U.S. television market.
No official word from either CBS Sports or IMG Worldwide has been made. When it has, you can find all of that info right here!
We will see how it all winds up. If you are in the L.A. area the end of March through early April, keep your ears open to where the biggest strongest men on the face of the planet will be gathering to contest the World's Strongest Man.
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