ProRodeo Sports News - August 7, 2020

DIRECTOR’S CUT SCOTT KANIEWSKI

September shaping up to be tasty month of rodeos W e’re less than two months from the end of the 2020 regular season, but already September is shaping up to be like no other in recent ProRodeo memory. Normally, the final month is packed with system. This year, the RAMNCFR will have a total distribution of $500,000. And while earnings from the RAMNCFR don’t count toward the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings this season, that’s a lot of dough for those circuit competitors. The Xtreme Bulls Finale is going to give the top 40 bull

several significant rodeos – the Ellensburg (Wash.) Rodeo, Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up and the ProRodeo Tour Finale jump to mind – that play a key role in helping finalize qualifiers for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. While Pendleton and Ellensburg aren’t happening this season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ProRodeo Tour Finale still is. And the Xtreme Bulls Tour Finale, which is annually held in Ellensburg, has been moved to Nephi, Utah. Throw in the RAMNational Circuit Finals Rodeo in Greeley, Colo., and September is looking like one of the busiest and most exciting months of the season. Recent announcements about the Tour Finale moving from Puyallup, Wash., to Rapid City, S.D., the Xtreme Bulls moving to Nephi and the RAMNCFR moving to Greeley make for an exciting finish to the season. Greeley hosting the circuit finals is going to give plenty of cowboys the chance to compete at their first RAMNCFR. Qualifiers from the Maple Leaf Circuit, which became a circuit in 2019, also will have the first chance to represent Canada as a circuit. It will also guarantee that cowboys who mostly stick to their circuits because of preference, careers, family or other commitments get to compete at the biggest rodeo in the circuit

riders on the Xtreme Bulls Tour the chance to battle for a payout of $60,000 and the Tour crown. The winner could go from well outside the Top 15 to making the Wrangler NFR. Throw in ground money and fans at Nephi could get the chance to see some significant movement in the PRCA | RAM World Standings. And lastly, and possibly most importantly, the Tour Finale, usually held in early September, will now be one of the biggest rodeos in the regular season’s final month and will be on the final weekend of the regular season – Sept. 22-26. That means that the Top 24 competitors in the ProRodeo Tour Standings will be battling for significant money on the final weekend while trying to make the Wrangler NFR. Over the last couple years, the ProRodeo Tour has been a key element in determining Finals qualifiers. This year that’ll be true again. While the Tour schedule has changed this season because of the pandemic, competitors have still been sure to get to Tour rodeos, and earning points at those will pay dividends to getting into the Tour Finale. In turn, the Tour Finale also will pay dividends for some cowboys when Sept. 30 rolls around and they see they’ve locked up a spot to compete under the bright lights of Las Vegas. That’s a heck of a climactic finish to the regular season.

Scott Kaniewski is the Media Director at the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He previously served more than two years as the editor of ProRodeo Sports News. He has nearly two decades of experience in sports journalism, with the last few being consumed by ProRodeo.

ProRodeo Sports News 8/7/2020

ProRodeo.com

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