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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher/Writer
They crowed about the Pac-12 football championship game being a sellout at Allegiant Stadium Friday, but that’s just another day at the arena for the National Finals Rodeo — the Super Bowl of all rodeos that is expected to hit a stunning 350 consecutive sellouts by the time this year’s 10-day NFR calls it a wrap.
The 2022 NFR began Thursday with its typical sold-out packed crowd at Thomas & Mack Center with an officially announced attendance of 16,929. The crowd watched 15 contestants in eight different rodeo disciplines from team roping and steer wrestling to barrel racing and bareback riding.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) received a hefty check from Las Vegas Events, the local promoter.
The oversized check of $15,170,128 made out to the PRCA and signed by Las Vegas Events helped the sanctioning rodeo organization from Colorado Springs start doling out the prize money to the contestants.
The PRCA gave retiring Las Vegas Events chief Pat Christenson a gift, an artistic horse sculpture as Tim Keener takes over the non-profit promotion’s top position.
The Cowboy Channel is broadcasting all 10 rounds of the 120 contestants vying for the $10.9 million prize money.
Thomas & Mack is the arena, but the attached Cox Pavilion facility houses a strip that allows the cowboys to ride the horses all the way from the arena through the pavilion to outside the structure. It’s always an interesting scene to watch students on the UNLV campus see the four-legged creatures fly out of the venue to catch some air.
There are also thousands of rodeo fans watching the action at parties at hotel-casinos from South Point to downtown Las Vegas and points along the Strip in between.
The rodeo has evolved into a 10-day celebration of the “Western” lifestyle with concerts after each NFR round and shopping displays everywhere like the Las Vegas Convention Center.