ProRodeo Sports News - June 21, 2024

MANAGER’S MESSAGE TRACY RENCK Memorable week of announcements for the PRCA

T he week of June 17, 2024, was quite memorable at the PRCA. Finals Rodeo has a home in Las Vegas for the next 12 years and the contract is a financial boon with more than a quarter of a billion dollars committed to the contestants and stock contractors through 2035. Las Vegas Events and the PRCA jointly announced the financial details of the agreement Events transpired that will help shape the future of the Association. On June 17, it was announced that the National

that will keep the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas through 2035. Over the term of the contract, the total payment to the contestants and stock contractors will be $264,323,473. This is significant in so many ways for all parties involved with ProRodeo – especially the contestants. For the 2024 NFR, the prize money for contestants will be $12,501,505 and stock contractors will receive $3,750,451 – making the payout amount of $16.2 million, which includes guaranteed prize money of $1.2 million for NFR qualifiers. In 2024, event round winners will receive $33,687 and the average winners will take home $86,391. Those numbers will keep increasing through the duration of the contract and consider that as recently as 2014 the NFR had what was a then a record-payout of $6,375,000. That’s a quarter of a billion. Not million – Billion – with a ‘B’.

Tracy Renck is the Manager of Communications and Media. He previously served three years as the editor of the ProRodeo Sports News , and before that he spent seven years as a media coordinator at the

PRCA ProRodeo file photo National champions from the 2023 NFR Open in Colorado Springs, Colo., show off their buckles. The PRCA and Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo signed a seven-year extension to keep the NFR Open in Colorado Springs through 2031.

PRCA. He has three decades of experience in sports journalism.

sell out. The 2024 NFR Open will have a new look on the final night as it will utilize one championship round with each event – bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping and bull riding – with the top nine competitors competing for their respective national championships. The NFR Open is a financial jolt to the local economy and having it in Colorado Springs makes complete sense because Colorado Springs is home to the PRCA. The Association’s headquarters are 15 minutes from Norris Penrose Event Center. Couple that with the fact that ProRodeo Hall of Fame is in the same building as the PRCA offices – and this is truly a perfect fit. The ProRodeo Hall of Fame will add to the exciting week with its induction of the star-studded 2024 class the morning of July 13. These back-to-back announcements are proof that is no better time than the present to be part of the financial growth and stability of the PRCA.

Thus, it is easy to understand why this lucrative

contract extension is such a huge deal.

Beyond the piles of money that will be up for grabs at the NFR from 2024-35, this pact between

the PRCA and LVE provides great stability for the future with the fact that the NFR has a home in Vegas – the Sports Entertainment Capital of the World – through 2035. If that colossal announcement wasn’t enough on June 18, the PRCA and officials from the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo announced a seven-year contract extension for the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo to host the NFR Open powered by RAM in Colorado Springs, Colo. The NFR Open – which was formerly the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo – was first held in Colorado Springs in 2022 and was a huge success that year and in 2023. This year’s version of the NFR Open is July 9-13 at the Norris Penrose Event Center. There will be seven performances over five days and all are expected to

ProRodeo Sports News 6/21/2024

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