ProRodeo Sports News - Jan. 24, 2020

PRORODEO ARENAS

Dickies Arena in Fort Worth open for rodeo business Raising the Roof James Phifer photos A bird’s-eye view of the new Dickies Arena. It opened in October and held its first PRCA event, the SWELS – Xtreme Bulls, Jan. 21-22.

BY TRACY RENCK S everal bull riders stared in awe while walking around the new, state-of-the-art Dickies Arena for the first time Jan. 21. The plush arena, which opened in late October, hosted its inaugural PRCA event – the first day of the 2020 Division 1 Xtreme Bulls Tour – to a sellout crowd of 9,300 spectators. “This is a change from the oldWill Rogers Memorial Center, that’s for sure,” said J.W. Harris, a four-time PRCA bull riding world champion (2008-10 and 2013). “I’m glad I get to ride in it. This is what Fort Worth, Texas, is all about, the history. Now that history is continuing as they built an arena that caters to rodeo.” Dickies Arena was the vision of Edward Bass, a businessman and philanthropist who headed up the charge to build the arena. The 14,000-seat venue – 9,300 for rodeo configuration – was conceived and developed by Bass and a public-private partnership between

the city of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, the state and a group of private-sector participants, including foundations, individuals and organizations.

“It is always cool to go to an event in a new building,” said Cody Rostockyj, the bull riding representative on the PRCA Executive Council. “All these guys were so excited (Jan. 21). Everybody was getting lost trying to find the locker room, but it is always nice to be in an arena like this. Sometimes we are stuck outside in the rain and the mud, and if you get a tent, you’re happy. Then, you come to a place like this in the winter where it is warm, and it is such a nice building and the hospitality is out of this world. You can’t beat it and you can’t put a price on it.” Dickies Arena is in the city’s Cultural District and adjacent to the Will Rogers Memorial Center campus. The venue will be owned by the city of Fort Worth and managed by Trail Drive Management Corp., a not-for- profit operating entity. The partnership was approved by Fort Worth voters in November

ProRodeo Sports News 1/24/2020

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