What is the National Finals Rodeo ?

Although rodeo has been around almost as long as dirt, the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) has a more recent history. The first National Finals Rodeo was held at the Dallas State Fair Grounds in 1959, and since then, has undergone some interesting changes.

The NFR is said to have been the brainchild of South Dakota's legendary Casey Tibbs. The idea behind the first National Finals Rodeo was to bring together the world's greatest rodeo athletes and the toughest and rankest livestock. Famous Cowboy heroes competing at that rodeo were Tibbs, Jim Shoulders, Jack Buschbom, Jim Bynum and Dean Oliver.

Since this was the first world championship held, no one knew what to expect but hoped for the best. The cowboys entered to claim the first National Finals Rodeo purse of $50,000 and do some rodeo-ing. And this first National Finals Rodeo set the high paced, fast pitched, rocking rodeos that we see today.

Shoulders, still considered the most successful cowboy with 16 world titles, placed in six bull riding rounds in '59, whisking away the National Finals Rodeo winnings and world championships. In 1979, he was honored as part of the inaugural class of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Placing sixth, Tibbs rode in his final saddle bronc riding world championship in that first National Finals Rodeo. Most memorable is he was the first cowboy to capture the attention of the media, and his attendance at the National Finals Rodeo beget national coverage of the event. He, too, was inducted into the Hall of Fame, with the added honor of the museum's signature statue -- a 20-footer of Tibbs riding the bronc Necktie.

The first round of the 1959 National Finals Rodeo's bareback riding went to Buschbom, who went on to claim the National Finals Rodeo average crown and the world title. Twenty years later, he laid claim to an induction into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.

For many years, National Finals Rodeo flourished, spending a few years in L.A. and then 20 in Oklahoma City. Cowboys still worked toward the Last Rodeo, but the media and purses didn't hit pay dirt (or should we say blackjack) until 1985 when National Finals Rodeo moved to Las Vegas. The National Finals Rodeo always had a sense of appeal to those Cowboy athletes, a culmination of their year of hard work, wrapped up into one neat little rodeo. With the move to Vegas, the appeal doubled -- in the form of prize money to $1.8 million.

Perhaps the most unpredictably exciting event in that first Vegas rodeo was the performance of rookie calf roper Joe Beaver. Few knew of him before that week, but once the week was up with a roll of Vegas luck, Beaver claimed the world-championship to become one of the most well known cowboys in rodeo.

In Vegas that same 1985 National Finals Rodeo, roughstock sensation Lewis Field of Elk Ridge, Utah, handily won the world bareback riding title and his first of three world all-around championships.

In 1998 National Finals Rodeo counted Ty Murray as a champion when he won an unprecedented seventh world all-around title. The same year Dan Mortenson claimed his fifth world saddle bronc riding title, short one of Tibbs record.

Many rodeos have come and gone since then. Titles have been won and lost in less time than the 8-second buzzer. The excitement never dims at the National Finals Rodeo in Vegas, and the lights never go down even when the cowboys go home.

Mark your calendars for the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. This is a not-to-miss rodeo event of the year. Rodeo Cowboys and cowgirls enter with their dreams of winning a world title, and spectator cowboys and cowgirls watch and wait to see the next winner ride off with the title and an even bigger purse than the last year.

The NFR is held each December in Las Vegas at the Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The top 15 regular-season finishers in each event qualify for the NFR and compete for prize money. In December, 2001, this prize money exceeded $4.5 million.

The NFR features the Top 15 competitors in each of professional rodeo's seven events: saddle bronc riding, bull riding, bareback riding, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling and barrel racing.

Each year over 140,000 people attend the "Sold Out" National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas and more than 13 million viewers tuned in when all 10 rounds of the Finals were broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2. The National Finals Rodeo is sold out each and every year, more than a year in advance. A public lottery is held through a mail order system a full year before the event; in previous years approximately 1 out of every 25 of the orders submitted were filled.. Of 1.5 million tickets applied for, less than 40,000 are distributed to the general pubic. Thus, because the Thomas and Mack center venue is small, riders and sponsors are allocated a majority of the seats. Given that there is such a high demand for the rest of the seats from the public, NFR tickets are scarce and hard for the everyday person to obtain.

• Bareback riding
• Steer wrestling
• Team roping
  • Through 1994, the PRCA awarded a single championship to the top team. Since 1995, the PRCA has awarded separate championships to the top "header" (the cowboy who ropes the steer's horns) and "heeler" (the cowboy who ropes the steer's feet). However, the top header and heeler are almost always regular partners.
• Saddle bronc riding
• Tie-down roping
• Bull riding
• Barrel racing, the only event exclusive to women

In each event, the world championship is awarded at the end of the NFR to the cowboy or cowgirl who earns the most money in his or her event for the year. An "all-around cowboy" championship is also awarded at the end of the NFR to the highest-earning cowboy who has regularly competed in more than one event during the year. Because of the large amount of money awarded during the NFR, the leader in an event going into the NFR is frequently dethroned at its end.

Since this event is extremely popular, it sells out all seats for all of the events. Many casinos carry the events live in their sports books or host special parties to accommodate all of the fans in town who can not get tickets for the events. Most of the major hotels and casinos book special entertainment into their showrooms with a country theme offering many of the regular shows an extended break.

Article

National Finals Rodeo
From Robert Romano,

Cowboys, cowgirls and country stars!
Once again, tickets to the events of the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) are about sold out and the town will soon be gearing up for the last big gathering before New Year's Eve.

The NFR has been drawing 'sell out' crowds since the late '70s, when I used to see it at the dome of the old Las Vegas Convention Center. For the past twenty years the Rodeo has been filling the seats of the Thomas and Mack arena.

For ten days of fun events, from December 2-11, we'll see, and some of us will become, cowboys and cowgirls. Stetsons and boots will be seen everywhere. Showroom and lounge headliners will be country and western stars.

The NFR is the World Series of rodeo. Events such as saddle bronc and bareback riding, calf and team roping, barrel racing, steer wrestling and bull riding are featured, and if you can't get into the Thomas and Mack for an event, don't pout.

You can see it live on TV or watch re-runs in just about every sports book in town.

More than fifty thousand folks are expected to visit town for the Rodeo, as usual, but locals have always been attracted to the event, and they have made it a family affair when they go to watch the events. They have also helped in keeping the tickets sold out.

Welcome NFR!!

History
Since 1985 the NFR has been held in Las Vegas. Dallas, Texas hosted the very first NFR in 1959, and hosted the next three. In 1963 the event made a one-year stop in Los Angeles, California. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma then hosted the rodeo from 1964 to 1984. Oklahoma City has bid to return the NFR to Oklahoma, but is always outbid by the deep pockets of Las Vegas.

Trivia
Since the rodeo uses the area that is home to the UNLV basketball team, December means a long string of away games for the basketball team.
The special dirt used for the event is stored on the UNLV campus to be used again the following year.
Cowboy Christmas, a cowboy gift show, is held concurrent with the rodeo at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
For more on the the National Finals Rodeo - What is the National Finals Rodeo as well as National Finals Rodeo Contestants.

Previous Results
     • NFR 2005
     • NFR 2004
     • NFR 2003

Links
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