ProRodeo Sports News | 2020 Year-End Edition | Dec.18, 2020

WRANGLER NFR RECAP

History-Making NFR

BY PRCA STAFF T he year of 2020 is one that will never be forgotten because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rodeo, like all sports worldwide, was impacted by the pandemic, forcing the cancellation or postponement of numerous rodeos. PRCA leadership, through hours of hard work, managed to get the season going again by the third week of May. Then, in what many deemed impossible, the sanctioning body moved the 2020Wrangler National Finals Rodeo to Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, Dec. 3-12, and pulled off a Finals with fans in attendance. Just as importantly, the prize money remained at $10 million for the contestants, the same amount that has been awarded at the NFR since 2015. The Finals, which had been held at theThomas &Mack Center in Las Vegas since 1985, was moved for one year because the pandemic prevented Las Vegas from hosting fans. The star of the 2020Wrangler NFR was StetsonWright, who competed in saddle bronc riding and bull riding. Wright won the all-around world championship for the second year in a row and added his first bull riding world title. Wright and his brother Ryder, the 2020 Saddle Bronc Riding World Champion, became the first brothers in PRCA history to win gold buckles in the same year. 2020 Wrangler NFR was one for the ages

Stetson Wright looks up to see his score in Round 5 of the bull riding competition at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, Dec. 7. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Steve Gray

Wright is the first cowboy to win back-to-back all-around world championships since Trevor Brazile in 2014 and 2015. At 21, Wright is the youngest cowboy to be crowned All-AroundWorld Champion in his first two seasons. He became the first cowboy to win the all- around and a roughstock world championship in the same year since Ty Murray in 1998. Murray won the all-around and bull riding titles that year.

“I was in the race for the all-around and to come out on top I was at a loss for words, I was star struck to beat guys I look up to,” said Stetson, who locked up the all-around crown after Round 9. “But winning the all-around world title meant so much to me, but to win it again feels better for the simple fact that people might say I was lucky my first time.”

ProRodeo Sports News 12/18/2020

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