The Arnold Sports Festival has gone from strength to strength over the last few years, elevating all areas of its health and fitness extravaganza, from the Arnold Strongman, the prestigious Arnold Classic bodybuilding competition, and, of course, the giant Arnold Expo. This year, we had the premium Stack3d Pavilion in the Greater Columbus Convention Center, filled with a carefully selected group of brands that, together, made for one of the most exciting activations on the floor and was absolutely loaded with people.
Plans are already in motion for the 2025 edition of the Arnold Sports Festival, including for the Stack3d Pavilion, as well as something more specific and official, with the prize money for the overall winner of the open category in the Arnold Classic bodybuilding competition. The organizers of the iconic event have come out and confirmed the next winner of the open class will take home an absolutely eye-watering half a million — $500,000 — which is a huge leap from this year where the Persian Wolf Hadi Choopan took home $300,000.
Not only is that an increase of two-thirds from year to year, but as many competitors and fans of bodybuilding will know, that is $100,000 more than what the winner of the Mr. Olympia pockets. That is clearly a mammoth and milestone amount for bodybuilders, and will undoubtedly encourage many IFBB Pros to get up and take interest. This follows another major move the Arnold Sports Festival made this past weekend for its 2024 event and others moving forward, where the webcast of its various events was completely free.
