ProRodeo Sports News - February 19, 2021

DIRECTOR’S CUT SCOTT KANIEWSKI

Dollars will flow during season’s final weekend T he announcement that the ProRodeo Tour Finale is moving to California Rodeo Salinas this season with at least a $500,000 payout must have cowboys overjoyed. The final weekend of the season has always been one

and had a payout of $471,100. The winner in each event took home $7,500 for finishing first in the finals. Three winners – steer wrestler Curtis Cassidy, saddle bronc rider Ryder Wright and bareback rider Richmond Champion – took home more than $17,000 each. Of the seven cowboys to cash in as winners, only one failed to earn more than $10,000. That’s a lot of dough from one rodeo. But Puyallup wasn’t on the final weekend of 2018. It came early in September. Last season, we saw how the Tour Finale in Rapid City, S.D., on the ultimate weekend of the regular season could impact the world standings. StetsonWright used the win at the Tour Finale in saddle bronc riding to jump five spots from outside the Top 15 to 13th. That booked his spot in the Wrangler NFR in a second event – he also qualified in bull riding – and ultimately helped lead him to his second consecutive all- around world championship. Tie-down roper Tyson Durfey also used the Finale as a catapult to the NFR, jumping from 20th to 12th in the world standings after the win. But the Tour Finale last year didn’t pay as much as it will this season. The payout in 2020 hovered around $300,000. With another $200,000 going to competitors in Salinas, the Tour Finale will again rank among the top 10 highest-paying rodeos of the 2021 season. And that’s a pretty good way to spend a (final) weekend.

of last chances to qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo by breaking into the Top 15 in the PRCA | RAM World Standings. But rarely has the final weekend carried so much weight. California Rodeo Salinas will run Sept. 23-26. The Top 24 contestants in the ProRodeo Tour standings in each event qualify for the Finale. In 2019, the last season to not be marred by the COVID-19 pandemic, the final weekend of the season saw 14 rodeos finish between Sept. 27-29. The total payout over that weekend added up to $796,188. Now, add in a payout of $500,000 from the Tour Finale in Salinas and that final weekend could exceed $1.2 million. By September, hopefully this pandemic talk is all under wraps because of vaccines. That would mean rodeos would be back in full swing and that final weekend would play an even bigger role than it has in the past. Rodeos like the American Royal Pro Rodeo in Kansas City, Mo., the Sheriff ’s PRCA Rodeo in San Bernardino, Calif., the Omaha (Neb.) River City Rodeo and the Cowboy Capital of the World PRCA Rodeo in Stephenville, Texas, would perfectly compliment the Tour Finale. In 2018, the Tour Finale took place in Puyallup, Wash.,

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 2/19/2021

ProRodeo.com

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