Originally, there were no beans in chili either.
Just pork. 
In Texas, they say "If you know beans about chili, you know chili ain't got no beans."
I don't necessarily agree with that, but I do think chili should be restricted to a foundation of tomato-based sauce, red meat, and chili spices. Anything else that is added would be purely for flavor variety and artistic flair.
It really wouldn't hurt to insert some rules and guidelines into the Ice Bowl chili contest. Some of the crazy concoctions I've seen would be akin to cooking with a microwave at a BBQ contest, or entering a cat in a dog show, or allowing men to enter the Miss America pageant.