2025 Year-End Edition

STATE OF THE PRCA: 2025 A ‘GREAT YEAR’ By Tracy Renck

T om Glause, PRCA Chief Executive Officer, high lighted numerous positive things that made 2025 a ‘great year’ for the PRCA during his State of the PRCA address at the South Point Hotel Casino Grand Ballroom, Dec. 2, in Las Vegas. “Our finances are in good shape. Entries are up, added

We use other athletic competitions. This year, the Arizona Cardinals, in coordination with Calgary Stampede, hosted some of our athletes. We were also at the FFA Convention and at the NASCAR race right here in Las Vegas.” According to Glause, the average entries per rodeo increased to 209. There were 713 total rodeos, 53 Xtreme

money is up. Total payouts are up. Spon sorship is up,” Glause said. “It has been a great year. The PRCA will pay out nearly $80 million, a significant increase from $50 million six years ago. When I started with the PRCA six years ago, that figure was only 50 million after the NFR. “We’ve seen significant growth in six short years. How? This year alone, we’ve seen nearly $4 million in growth. We thank our committees for believing in our sport, for believing in the PRCA and reaching into your pocketbooks and continuing to add more money. I’d like to highlight a few of the rodeos that added

Bulls events, 20 Xtreme Saddle Bronc Riding events and 28 three-event rodeos. But there are issues to address. “Not everything’s rosy. We do have challenges. Turnouts continue to be a challenge. We continue to try and find in novative ways to help with the turnouts,” Glause said. “Eighty-three percent of the contestants who do enter compete. Nine percent turnout. Six percent are doctor releases and 2 percent are draw outs for other reasons. “We’ve got to continue to work on these numbers, especially in the rough stock events, to reduce these turnouts,

PRCA CEO Tom Glause said 2025 was a banner year for the organization. (PRCA Photo by Kathryn Coleman)

additional money over 2024 starting with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Houston added an additional $276,000 to their rodeo. The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, an additional $217,000 …” Glause said financially, the revenue projections for 2025 are $52.1 million. “When I started six years ago, that number was about $26 million, so in six years we doubled our revenue,” Glause said. “The big drivers are sponsorship and media, they account for about 60 percent of our revenue. On the expense side, sponsorship fulfillment and salaries account for about 50 percent of our expenses.” A key part of the media equation is the broadcast part nership the PRCA has with Teton Ridge. “Teton Ridge purchased the Cowboy Channel in Novem ber of last year. We’ve certainly seen them grow, especially with Rodeo Live, they’ve got a lot of pregame production,” Glause said. “We are interested in upping our game in production, and that’s one thing we’re going to be work ing on, is, how do we make our live production enhance? I’m excited to work with Shawn Colo. He was named CEO of Teton Ridge (in November) and we’re excited to work through our partnership to improve how we look on TV.” Glause took a moment to explain some of the ventures the PRCA Communications, Media and Marketing teams are taking to better the association. “The PRORODEO Sports News looks dramatically dif ferent than it did last year. We are concentrating more on telling stories and lifestyle articles,” Glause said. “Timely results can be found on prorodeo.com, so we will contin ue to grow the magazine, but it’s going to take a different look and feel from just simply reporting rodeo results. “We also continue to try and cross market our events.

we don’t have any single magical item, a silver bullet, if you will, that is going to magically turn this number around. We’re going to have to work together. We’re going to have to find innovative solutions, and together, I think we can reduce that number. In summary, rodeo administration functioned at a high level. This year, they increased the number of approved events. Entries were up, permits were up, and the payouts were even better.” During his address, Glause also talked about PRCA membership numbers. “Membership was flat this year. “We wound up with a little over 6,500 members. It’s down about 150 from last year. But we have to keep the pipeline full, so we’ve got new members to replace those that fall out. The timed events dominate our membership. We have gained sig nificantly in bareback riding, but there’s still more work to be done. The bull riding is maintained, and the saddle bronc riding has been growing. “Our permit holders are growing. We ended the year with over 2,000 permit holders. It’s been 15 to 16, years since we’ve seen this level of membership as permit holders, we’re not exactly sure the exact reason we’re seeing more permit holders. These permit holders are coming ready to compete at the highest level. This year, (bull rider) Hayden Welsh won nearly $150,000 and set a record on his permit. Coleman Shallbetter won over $120,000 in the bronc riding. So, it’s phenomenal the level of talent that these permit holders have.” Glause had the following closing remarks. “All I can say is thank you, thank you for what you do. Together, we truly are better. We’re brighter and we’re bigger. I look forward to 2026.”

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