2019 PRCA Media Guide - Intro

PRORODEO TIMELINE: 1936-2019

Before ProRodeo, therewas… 1869: The first amateur rodeo is held in Deer Trail, Colo. 1880s-1890s: AnumberofWesterntowns hold their first professional rodeos with cashprizes, includingPrescott,Ariz.;Pecos, Texas; Payson, Ariz.; Denver, Colo.; North Platte, Neb.; and Cheyenne, Wyo. 1920s: The Rodeo Association of America, comprised of rodeo committees and promoters, banded together to create contests that would lead to the sport’s first national champions.

1936: By joining ranks to boycott a rodeo in Boston, a group of cowboys and cowgirls forced the promoter to improve judging and increase the prize money. They picked the name Cowboys’ Turtle Association in reflection of the fact that they had been slow to act, but had finally stuck their necks out for their cause.

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946

1947: Succeeding the CTA, the Rodeo Cowboys Association begins implementing rules regarding rodeo livestock welfare. Today, the PRCA enforces 60 rules that gov- ern the care and treatment of the livestock participating in PRCA-sanctioned events.

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1959: The PRCA develops its first true national championship event, the National Finals Rodeo; it’s held in Dallas the first three years, then in Los Angeles for three years, then in Oklahoma City from 1965-84.

1958

1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1975: The RCA changes its name again, to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, with 3,651 members competing for $6,432,580 in prize money that year.

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

2003: The PRCA develops the Xtreme Bulls Tour to pit its best bull riders against its rankest bulls.

1978

1979

1979: The PRCA opens a new national headquarters in the foothills near Pikes Peak, America’s Mountain, in Colorado Springs, Colo. – where it remains today.

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

1985: The National Finals Rodeo moves to the Thomas & Mack Center on the University of Nevada (Las Vegas) campus, where the prize purse has grown from $1.79 million in 1985 to $10 million in 2015 and the event has been virtually sold out every year.

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2018: The PRCA sanctions 644 rodeos with a total payout of $49 million, and has 4,618 contestant members.

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2019 PRCA MEDIA GUIDE