Las Vegas, NV: It was quite the week here at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. If you’ve never been before it’s an event you should get to. There’s no where I’ve ever been with as many like minded people. It’s comparable to Calgary during Stampede but to be honest, with more western people.
The amount that the town gets into it is huge too. Nearly ever casino gets into it, they have to though as this is the main source of income for them in the month of December. It’s been said the economic impact of the NFR is about $100,000,000 (one hundred million).
Speaking of dollars and cents, there was $191,400 won on Canadian Bucking Horses and Bulls over the ten days here. That’s over three full rounds when you count it up. So one full night for each event. I think that’s pretty cool when you think about it. A lot of people kept saying that we only had one contestant here but when you think about it we are doing pretty good. Luke Butterfield and Dusty LaValley both finished only one spot out and will likely be here next year.
It’s gotten much more difficult for a person to get down here with horses, that’s got to be tough. When you think about how great our Canadian Finals Rodeo is getting to be now too, there’s quite a bit of money if a person stays in Canada. When you consider the distance it’s quite good. The CFR is the third biggest rodeo in the entire world in regards to the money being paid out.
What else is pretty cool is the number of people travelling to Las Vegas for the NFR. I was talking with my former Rodeo Coach Ric Griffith and told him I thought about 10% of the people coming down here were from Canada. He thought that number was higher. What do you think it is?
Either way, we will have more contestants at the NFR again soon. It’s one of those things that goes up and down. With Calgary and Houston changing their formats it’s changed too. It’s all part of it. We will see what happens in the future.
What do you think or hope it might hold?
One thing I never saw coming was this article Dwayne Erickson wrote yesterday on Lindsay Sears.
Sears ready to step back from rodeo
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