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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher/Writer
The National Finals Rodeo packed in 17,788 rodeo fans into Thomas & Mack Center in the tenth and final NFR performance Saturday, bringing the 10-day attendance Dec. 1-10 total to 173,350 in Las Vegas
The 17,788 attendance was the highest of the 10 days of high-stakes rodeo performances by more than 100 contestants at the world’s richest rodeo. The top 15 contestants in each rodeo event competes for a share of the $10.9 million purse.
The 10-day total of 173,350 fans is roughly the turnstile count for three Las Vegas Raiders home games. Through the first nine performances, attendance checked in at 155,562.
The country’s Western lifestyle transplants itself every year in Las Vegas for this 10-day schedule, which has spawned all types of rodeo-related competitions in the Vegas Valley.
There is also the retail side of the tourism influx as boots, hats, jeans and horse equipment are sold at commercial popup sites from the Las Vegas Convention Center to South Point Hotel. Cowboy Christmas, the NFR’s official gift show, featured more than 375 exhibitors from across the U.S.
Total attendance at the South Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center – which incorporates both The Cowboy Channel Cowboy Christmas and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Hunter & Outdoor Christmas Expo – was 279,465, up from 241,522 in 2021. This also included the total attendance on Dec. 3 of 40,894, the highest single-day figure in the event’s history.
Photos for this story supplied by Tom Donoghue.
This is the final year for Pat Christenson as president of Las Vegas Events, the non-profit arm of the public tourism agency, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), which sanctions NFR and hundreds of other rodeos across the country, has a deal with Las Vegas Events to continue staging the rodeo in Las Vegas through 2025 after NFR moved to Texas for a year in 2020 because of Nevada state COVID-19 restrictions.
The Las Vegas Events organization had a variety of price points for tickets at Thomas & Mack — $300 for gold buckle, $112 for plaza, $80 for balcony and $70 for all-access (without a seat).
Tonight was the 350th consecutive NFR sellout at Thomas & Mack.
Las Vegas Events uses all the NFR revenue generated from ticket sales, sponsorships, Cowboy Christmas retail operation and LVCVA dollars to pay a one-lump sum of $15,170,128 to the PRCA, which includes the $10.9 million in prize money that is doled out to the contestants. The LVCVA and Las Vegas Events justify the $15 million plus check to PRCA by saying the NFR visitors’ spending adds millions of dollars to the local Las Vegas economy.