Multi-Federation Champions – Canadian Bodybuilding’s Newest Trend

I believe that 2006 should be remembered as the year when bodybuilding became federation-free for competitors. With three credible organizations now operating in Canada – CBBF, FAME, and IDFA – and no restrictions on where one can compete, athletes are now competing within and among federations. In fact, I see this happening all the time at the many events I attend. Furthermore, it’s created new classes of winners – multi-federation champions. These are competitors who win titles in more than one federation, and there are quite a number of them now.

Take Franco Patano for example; he’s featured on our cover this month. I watched Franco win the Overall title at the IDFA’s Canadian Classic II on November 4, and then on November 11, I saw him win the Overall title at the OPA Eastern Ontario Championships. (The OPA is the provincial affiliate of the CBBF in Ontario.)

In June, Greg Doucette won the Atlantic Classic in New Brunswick, which was sanctioned by the NBPFA (the New Brunswick affiliate of the CBBF), and then later that same month he won the FAME Muscle Pro World Championship in Toronto.

There have probably been many more multi-federation champions that I haven’t seen, not just in bodybuilding, but in figure and fitness as well. However, the key to all this is that a new trend has taken hold in Canada and will continue to grow. The reason is that today no one organization holds a monopoly on competitions, and competitors are seeing good reason to compete in more than one federation.

Furthermore, competitors can do this now because there appears to be nothing in any federation’s rules to stop it (if there is a rule in place somewhere, it’s obvious that no one is actually enforcing it). But competitors haven’t always enjoyed this kind of freedom; in fact, there were rules in place in the CBBF until last year. The CBBF is Canada’s oldest organization, and from just after the year 2000 up until 2005 they had their controversial "ban" in place. The reason: They were trying to hold onto the number-one position they had always enjoyed.

Back then, the CBBF had a monopoly on the competitions in Canada – they were established decades ago and had what those in business school called the "first-mover advantage." Other organizations came into play during that time, but none lasted. The CBBF was first and they consistently put on shows year after year. So, for a long while the CBBF got used to being the only game in town, pretty much overseeing all the competitions until the year 2000.

However, all that changed when FAME first appeared on the scene around 2001. (They were originally known as WNSO but in recent years have been changing to FAME.) The folks at FAME made quite a name for themselves quickly due to savvy media promotion, and they gained prominence rapidly. In fact, in a short time they scooped most of the television and magazine coverage away from the CBBF, which drew a lot of competitors their way. The CBBF, trying to hold their position, retaliated by imposing their ban – effectively suspending their own competitors for a period of two years if they competed in another organization’s show. It was a crazy thing to do. Just imagine: banning your own competitors. Not surprisingly, it didn’t work.

The most telling example of the ban’s failure was the 2005 CBBF Canadian Fitness and Figure Championships – only 36 female competitors showed up. That same year at a FAME national-level event, however, hundreds of females competed. Shortly after that catastrophic event, the CBBF removed their ban. However, the damage was already done and the folks at FAME were firmly established on Canadian soil.

Given the results from the CBBF’s ban, I seriously doubt that any organization that intends to survive will implement a similar rule in the future. If they do, they’re crazy.

So today, athletes not only compete in FAME and the CBBF (and its provincially recognized affiliates), but also in the IDFA as well (IDFA stands for International Drug-Free Athletics, meaning it’s a "natural" organization), which came into being about five years after FAME. Like the folks at FAME, the IDFA made a mark quite quickly by getting good exposure in the media. The IDFA has held three successful events in Canada to date: the 2005 Canadian Classic, as well as the 2006 Toronto Classic and the 2006 Canadian Classic II. They’re aiming for four events in 2007, and many competitors are taking notice.

Obviously, with all these venues to compete in, the likelihood for even more multi-federation champions increases as well. I believe this is great for the competitors – they’re not at the mercy of one authoritarian organization – but I do see a problem brewing. With all these titles being awarded, the prestige of each title gets diluted. After all, how many Canadian Champions should there be? And if we decide that there should be just one, then whose champion should it be?

Given the prospect of this being a growing problem over the next few years, perhaps someone should be planning for a "unifying title," not unlike the boxing world. Basically, a champion of champions. And if the organizations can’t get together to do that, maybe some competitor will simply have to win them all and become the true multi-federation Canadian Champion. Time will tell.

...Doug Schneider, Publisher
das@seriousaboutmuscle.com

Doug Schneider is the publisher and chief photographer for SeriousAboutMuscle.com, BodyBuildingLive.com, and SeriousAboutFitness.com.