ProRodeo Sports News - Jan. 24, 2020

Cowboys can book for Vegas with big winter wins EDITOR’S LETTER SCOTT KANIEWSKI S ummertime might be the best time for rodeo, but the winter and spring months are when cowboys can really make some money and all but clinch a spot in theWrangler National Finals Rodeo thanks to Antonio Stock Show&Rodeo. Between the two, the lanky Canadian earned $79,500 that counted toward the world standings. That was enough to qualify for theWrangler NFR. (It even topped the No. 15 spot by $229.) Of course, Larsen won plenty more, entering the Finals with $173,442. He also won another $50,000 in Arlington that did not count toward the standings. Team ropers Coleman Proctor and RyanMotes won

several rodeos with significant paydays. Frommid-January until the end of March, PRCA rodeos including Denver and a half-dozen Texas-sized rodeos – Fort Worth, San Angelo, San Antonio, Houston, Arlington and Austin – can set up competitors for the rest of the season. Last year, those seven combined rodeos paid out $6,339,125, or an average of $905,589 per rodeo. Call it ProRodeoWin-terfest. This year should be bigger, richer, better. Denver, which ends Jan. 26 with the finals airing onThe Cowboy Channel at 4 p.m. (ET), will pay out nearly 20% more in 2020 than it did in 2019. The FortWorth Stock Show and Rodeo has altered its format – as several rodeos have – in order to pay out its winners $20,000 apiece, plus whatever they win in the earlier rounds. The total payout in FortWorth will exceed $900,000. BothThe American in Arlington, Texas, and RodeoHouston will again see $50,000 count toward the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings for the winners as happened last season. If a cowboy can win two of those three rodeos – FortWorth, Arlington andHouston – go ahead and book his room in Las Vegas in December. In 2019, of the 14 cowboys who won at either Arlington or Houston (including headers and heelers), only two did not make theWrangler NFR. Bareback rider Orin Larsen won bothThe American and the San

Scott Kaniewski has been the editor of ProRodeo Sports News since August 2017. He has nearly two decades of experience in sports journalism,

$433,333 each in Arlington after winning as qualifiers. And while only $50,000 of that counted toward the world standings, that extra $383,333 made a difference to Proctor. “For an opportunity for my rope to make a living for me and put me in position where I could change my life and my family’s life moving forward is the biggest goal you can have when you start roping a goat, chasing him around in the yard as a little kid,” Proctor said after winning in Arlington. San Angelo paid out winners in 2019 a total of $451,203. And Rodeo Austin, which caps the big run when it ends March 28, last year paid out cowboy winners an average of $11,270. Bareback rider Caleb Bennett won both San Angelo and Austin in 2019 to earn $21,649 combined. That proved to be nearly 20% of his regular-season earnings, helping him book passage to Vegas. Needless to say, there’s significant money to be won before the summer months hit and the Reno (Nev.) Rodeo

with the last several being consumed by ProRodeo.

kicks off June 18. A bad winter doesn’t mean missing out on the Finals, but a great winter can mean a guy can start counting down the days until the Wrangler NFR.

ProRodeo Sports News 1/24/2020

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