ProRodeo Sports News - Nov.20, 2020

Gauging the Setup Globe Life Field configurations much different from arena at the Thomas & Mack Center ARENA

BY TRACY RENCK W orld champion tie-down ropers Shane Hanchey and Tuf Cooper have talked about it. Three-time World Champion Bareback Rider TimO’Connell is seeing it as a challenge. Some Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifiers have no idea what to expect. But everyone that’s competing at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, can agree: the configurations at the arena for this year’s Finals will present plenty of change. OLD VS. NEW TheThomas &Mack Center at UNLV in Las Vegas – home to the school’s basketball teams – has hosted the NFR since 1985. That venue could not host fans this year due to coronavirus restrictions in Nevada. So, the Finals moved to Globe Life Field, and the first-year arena will provide more open space for contestants compared to the tighter confines of Thomas &Mack. “Shane Hanchey (2013 world champion tie-down roper) and I have been talking about the setup, the dimensions, what it’s going to be like,” said Cooper, a three-time world champion tie-down roper. “Honestly, no one has ever competed at an arena like that. I have been talking to some of my friends and local fans who are going to the rodeo and watch the NFR every year, they are excited about seeing the NFR in a different setup. “It’s 50 feet off the left fence, which would be a few feet less than the (Thomas &Mack), but you have 220 (feet) on the right side. It’s shaped like a diamond and we are going to home plate. It’s going to be really cool. The start, they made it one foot further out, so you’re going to have to give the cattle one extra foot than you did at theThomas &Mack. Twelve inches doesn’t seem like a big difference but whenever you’re talking about the amount of head start you have to give a calf then it is. It’s going to be a fun 10-header. I think it’s going to even the playing field.” Tyson Durfey, the 2016 Tie-down Roping World Champion, can see the field influencing the stock. “Particularly in tie-down roping I think you’re going to see a lot more cattle going right, hard,” Durfey said. “If you get a good start it should come right into your loop, but if you get a bad start you may be able to get outrun because the calves can go so far to the right, whereas at theThomas &Mack they are pretty much funneled down straight because it is a narrower and

longer arena. If you look at most rodeo arenas, they are rectangular in shape with round corners. This one will be a lot different, but I’m excited that we are able to go and rope.” Luke Brown, the team roping header season leader, knows things will be different for him and partner Joseph Harrison. “The barrier is going to be a little longer and there’s a lot of left,” Brown said. “They are pretty much in the center at theThomas &Mack, and I think everything will be moved over to the left. You don’t have the wall to deal with, but guys are going to rope them pretty fast so I don’t know that you will get back up into the bucking chutes or not. It’s going to be a good team roping that’s for sure. “I love being at the NFR in Vegas, but I’m so thrilled and excited that we do have an NFR to go to this year and that the PRCA has worked so hard to make it happen for us.” Steer wrestler Tyler Waguespack, a two-time world champion (2016 and 2018), is ready for the configurations. “The arena is going to change up a little bit, but I think it will be fine,” Waguespack said. “I don’t think we will have any problems. The steers might go a little bit more left than normal because there’s room to run, but I think it will be fine. We go to all kinds of different setups all throughout the year, and we are just going to run 10 in this setup.” ROUGHSTOCK RANGE At Thomas &Mack, there are seven bucking chutes, but at Globe Life there will be 12 bucking chutes because of production time. O’Connell, who won bareback riding world titles from 2016 to 2018, said Globe Life Field reminds him of a couple other arenas. “I think it’s going to feel like competing in Houston (at NRG Stadium) or The American (at AT&T Stadium in Arlington), where you have a lot of people around you but it doesn’t really feel like they are around you because they are not on top of you like at Thomas &Mack,” O’Connell said. “It (the configuration) of Globe Life Field is going to play a huge part in how these

ProRodeo Sports News 11/20/2020

WRANGLER NATIONAL FINALS RODEO

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