MBN dying out????

[sitnfat]

I got curious today and wanted to look for MBN contests close to me. Not very many and I am always hearing of others being cancelled is this style contest cooking fading away to wear there will only be two or three contests like this?

[Lake Dogs]

There seems to be a core of the still hanging on. From what I've seen over the last 4 or 5 years, in this area, they get new ones, the organizers seem to get displeased, they change to other sanctioning bodies. Lately, around here, that's been changed mostly to GBA sanctioned events.

Sad, frankly, but **** are they expensive to participate in! I love 'em, but good grief.

[mobow]

When you start cooking whole hog you are going to limit those that have the equipment or the desire to do it. keith

[Lake Dogs]

Last time I competed in MBN we cooked 9 whole shoulders (1 too many, but they came 3 to a case and that 9th one was basically free) and 14 racks of BB's. We didnt even enter the whole hog category. MBN is cool in that you can compete for GC/RGC by just entering 1 of the 3. But seriously, whole shoulders vs. butts, right there is almost twice the meat cost in shoulders. I love the on-site as a judge, but as a competitor... Ugh. I really like the finals, both as a competitor and a judge. All of this just adds to the cost and the effort involved.

It's tough. Perhaps unnecessarily so.

[OutlawSwine]

Originally Posted by Lake Dogs

Last time I competed in MBN we cooked 9 whole shoulders (1 too many, but they came 3 to a case and that 9th one was basically free) and 14 racks of BB's. We didnt even enter the whole hog category. MBN is cool in that you can compete for GC/RGC by just entering 1 of the 3. But seriously, whole shoulders vs. butts, right there is almost twice the meat cost in shoulders. I love the on-site as a judge, but as a competitor... Ugh. I really like the finals, both as a competitor and a judge. All of this just adds to the cost and the effort involved.

It's tough. Perhaps unnecessarily so.

We have only done 1 MBN for this reason. We did whole hog though, not shoulder. I love the concept of MBN but they really need to figure out a way to lower the cost so that more teams would be interested. If they can figure out a way to make it less expensive (I have a few suggestions), I would be all over it and would prefer this over KCBS. I love cooking whole hog.

[nukenight]

My wife and I judge MBN when we can fit it into our schedule. We both love the format. Listening to Myron Mixon talk about cooking his whole hog on site is priceless. Besides, the quality of the pork entries is very high! I wish we could find a way to reduce cost while keeping the culture of MBN contests.

[dmprantz]

I think a big part of the issue is the history and the herritage of MBN. I agree that if they don't find ways to adapt and make it more affordable to compete, they may continue to dwindle in number. Of course, I could be very wrong.

dmp

[crd26a]

I'd LOVE to do an MBN event. But then I look at what the cost and equipment needs would be as a solo cook, and it quickly becomes harder to justify. Ribs would be the easiest choice both cost and equipment requirement wise, but would want to figure out how to do ribs and shoulders to increase my odds, but the amount of equipment, setup, prep and handling the dog and pony show becomes tough. I get why its very much a team event, but still, costs creep in as do the ability to win back any within the payouts.

I do plan to do MIM at some point, need to see when I can convince a couple of friends to go in and do it together.

[Lake Dogs]

I've both judged and competed in MBN and I do love it. That said, I cannot think that I've ever seen 1 person compete. On-site with the change-out takes 2 people pretty much no matter what. I've seen a few come in and cook with 1 person, but there were always more there for on-site and turn-ins. With just cooking shoulders and ribs last time it pretty much kept 4 of us very busy... Not to forget a huge factor that you dont have in any other that I know of, and that's the cleanliness part. You must be REAL CLEAN and REAL PURDY for on-site.

[DawgPhan]

As long as there is Memphis in May there are going to be MBN events.

I think that for most people it is the sheer volume of food that needs to be cooked that needs to be dialed back a little if they want to expand. I dont know that the do though. The same things could be said for GBA.

can anyone with a little MBN experience (Lake Dogs I am looking at you ) break down how the meat actually gets used? 9 Shoulders I know about, but how are those shoulders used? How many for each round of judging assuming finals? Could they ditch the first onsite and save some teams a little money?

[dmprantz]

Originally Posted by DawgPhan

As long as there is Memphis in May there are going to be MBN events.

I wouldn't hang my hat on that. MBN events used to be MIM events and count as qualifiers to get into MIM. Now they have nothing to do with each other except for a format and some rules. MBN even has their own championship outside of MIM, but I think they had to cancel it for a while. MIM will gladly continue without MBN as long as they have to turn teams away who are willing to pay their fees. I think that was part of the reason for the divestiture anyway.

dmp

[DawgPhan]

Originally Posted by dmprantz

I wouldn't hang my hat on that. MBN events used to be MIM events and count as qualifiers to get into MIM. Now they have nothing to do with each other except for a format and some rules. MBN even has their own championship outside of MIM, but I think they had to cancel it for a while. MIM will gladly continue without MBN as long as they have to turn teams away who are willing to pay their fees. I think that was part of the reason for the divestiture anyway.

dmp

they still do the whole pass down thing, dont they? Thought they did, but I have no idea.

Also I wasnt saying that MIM needs MBN, but just that MBN needs MIM. If there wasnt a MIM then I dont see why new teams would consider cooking MBN events. The core MBN teams are going to cook MBN and there are going to be the core events, but it would shrink really fast without MIM out there as a carrot to new teams.

As a mostly KCBS team, I want to cook MIM and I would want to do a couple of MBN to get me ready. Without MIM I dont know that MBN still has the draw other than being able to say i cooked at the Pig Jig.

[dmprantz]

As far as I know, MBN events are not gateways to MIM. This could have changed back, but if so, I'm not aware. (Neil? Hance?) There are plenty of teams who go to Tom Lee Park every year that do nothing else, just as there are plenty of teams who to the ARO every year with nothing else. Sure MBN is good practice for MIM teams, but I don't think that alone is going to be enough to keep MBN around in the long run.

dmp

[porkingINpublic]

My team did MBN this year for the first time (ribs and shoulder only)...
The meat prices really kill you. we spent:
$150 on ribs
$160 on shoulders
had we done whole hog it would have been another $200....

I think if the blind box turn in is what is used to determine who makes finals that would require only cooking half of the meat....

2 racks for blind box, 3 racks for finals. 1 shoulder for blind box, 3 for finals.

[Svenmac]

Originally Posted by porkingINpublic

My team did MBN this year for the first time (ribs and shoulder only)...
The meat prices really kill you. we spent:
$150 on ribs
$160 on shoulders
had we done whole hog it would have been another $200....

I think if the blind box turn in is what is used to determine who makes finals that would require only cooking half of the meat....

2 racks for blind box, 3 racks for finals. 1 shoulder for blind box, 3 for finals.

This says it all. In KCBS I spead about $130 in meat a contest. Period. MBN guys have to do that for each catagory.