The Arnold Sports Festival has been leading the way in bodybuilding competitions year after year, whether you’re looking at it from the high end stage production, the free high-definition online stream, or the unmatched health and fitness spectacle that is the Arnold Expo. Shortly after last year’s Arnold Sports Festival, Schwarzenegger and the organizers of his premier event took things up a notch and promised a first-place prize of half a million dollars for the winner of the Arnold Classic.
Following this year’s tremendous Arnold Sports Festival, where seats were packed and the Columbus Convention Center was at capacity thanks to the Arnold Expo, Arnold Schwarzenegger has made another massive announcement to push things even further. In 2026, the total prize money for the bodybuilding contests and categories at the Arnold Classic events, both the flagship one here in the US and the returning Arnold UK, will be an eye-watering one and a half million dollars.
Of that massive prize pool, a million of that will be given to the winner or potentially winners of the Arnold US and Arnold UK, specifically $750,000 for the former and $250,000 for the latter. Basically, whoever wins the Aronld Classic in 2026 in Columbus could take home a million dollars if they maintain their conditioning for a few weeks like Hadi did last year. Next year’s event was already shaping up to be incredible, and this announcement will take it even further.
