PRORODEO Sports News March 2026 Digital Edition

PRCA PROVIDES INSIGHT ON JUDGING PROGRAM

T he lights on rodeo have never been brighter and the expectation for the PRCA to provide the best for the best is higher than ever. Providing the best for the membership includes re sources for committees, payouts for athletes, support for contract personnel, and expectations of high-quality judg ing to rival the quality of our athletes. As broadcast quality of the National Finals Rodeo improves, the opportunity

After a successful first year in practice, the review sys tem expanded in 2025 to provide for two additional areas of review: buck off times and freehand infraction. Through the 10 rounds of competition at the 2025 NFR, there were 48 infractions by PRCA judges that were sub ject to automatic review by officials. Nine calls were over turned in a timely manner and subsequently announced in the arena. “With twelve indepen dent cameras and two

for criticism after real-time events and judgement calls is easier than ever before. The Pro Officials are in a larger spotlight when they work the NFR and they are graded on their ability before they get to Las Vegas. All Pro Officials are evaluated by Ron Howard, the PRCA’s Director of Pro Officials, annually. And that’s just one layer in the process. Pro Officials are also critiqued by com mittees, secretaries, tim ers, contestants and stock contractors. The evaluation includes their ability on a scale of 1 to 4 to be profi cient in the following areas which include but are not

dedicated video officials, the review process is important to our rodeo and fairness of competition. When a judge makes a call in the arena, we work diligently to confirm or overturn the call in a timely manner,” Howard said. Each call during the NFR is subject to three prongs of decision. The first step begins as a subjective opin ion of an official in position to make a call determines there is an infraction. Immediately, the review process begins and there must be clear and obvious video evidence to overturn a call in the arena. The

PRCA photo by Jake Hodnett

absence of this video mandates the original official call stands. Lastly, there is a time constraint for each call, as NFR ground rules are clear in indicating that when the next contestant begins to compete, all calls from an official stand. The ride to draw the most eyes and opinions from the 2025 NFR occurred during performance six when sad dle bronc rider Stetson Wright was called for a missed mark out. During this incident, a flag was thrown for a missed mark out on the right side and review was immediately initiated. During the compressed review, it was determined that the video evidence was not imme diately clear and obvious to overturn the original call before the next contestant competed. Professional sports are an imperfect marriage of human emotion, skill, and split-second decision making from ath letes and officials. When removing the constraint of time, the video available shows the call to be questionable. The PRCA has high expectations from Pro Officials, and each call and subsequent video review are an opportunity to continue to improve. These expectations justifiably meet the raised expectations and commitment of the athletes competing every day.

limited to general items like being on-time, professional, listens, and being detail oriented. There are 10 criteria on the knowledge of rules in each roughstock, timed-events and women’s events. Howard compiles this information, in conjunction with his own individual appraisal, to arrive at a well-rounded overall evaluation of Pro Officials, who are on one-year contracts with ongoing performance reviews discussed semi-annually. Pro Officials, as part of their job, attend a seminar/workshop annually and they also do professional development three times a year, including right before the National Finals Rodeo. Video review was utilized by the PRCA at the 2024 NFR at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas for the first time. “As access to technology increased, it was vital that we adapted to provide a fair opportunity for competition,” said Steve Knowles, PRCA’s Chief Operating Officer. “In cluding embracing video review when possible.” The initial implementation of video review included six specific calls: competing before breaking the plane of the barrier, crossfire, livestock infraction, mark out, barrier malfunction, and no-nod in all events.

MARCH 2026 PRORODEO SPORTS NEWS DIGITAL MAGAZINE 27