The dust settles, and Las Vegas keeps Wrangler National Finals Rodeo

Man, that was a wild ride. A little more than a month after it seemed the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo was leaving Las Vegas for the backyard of Disney World or even Dallas, it was formally announced today that the rodeo would remain in Las Vegas through 2024. That is a 10-year extension over the current agreement between Las Vegas Events and the WNFR’s governing body, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. As part of the new pact, LVE is guaranteeing $16.5 million annually in purse and sponsorship dollars to the PRCA, including a total contestants’ purse package of $10 million and another $3 million to the event’s stock contractors from 2015-2019. The previous offer by the LVE, which was rejected by the PRCA Board of Directors on Dec. 14, was for $11 million to $12 million to extend the WNFR’s contract. The reported offer from Osceola County, which was in the midst of a 90-day memorandum of understanding to negotiate with the PRCA, was $16 million. “To Orlando’s and Dallas’s credit, they came forth with some real credible offers,” LVE President Pat Christenson said today. “We knew all along that the PRCA wanted to be in Las Vegas. We weren’t sure how far Dallas and Orlando were willing to go, and we came up with an aggressive offer to keep the WNFR here.” The event will return to the Thomas & Mack Center, but with multiple arena plans in various stages of development in Las Vegas (most notably MGM Resorts' 20,000-seat arena on the Strip), it is not guaranteed the WNFR will be held at the Thomas & Mack through 2024. The new WNFR contact satisfies the long-stated wishes of PRCA officials that its contestants receive a significant boost in prize money. Under the new pact, WNFR contestants will be guaranteed at least $10,000 each year in prize money, which will not be offset by contestant winnings. For instance, if a contestant now wins $10,000, he or she will take away $20,000; before, if he or she won $10,000 in prize money, the takeaway would be that $10,000. And from 2020-2024, a built-in cost-of-living increase will be attached to purse and guaranteed payments. Additionally, as the statement notes, the agreement includes a seasonlong Las Vegas sponsorship program with the PRCA, presenting sponsorships of a dozen RAM Circuit Finals Rodeos and the single Circuit Finals Rodeo event, and also the National Finals Steer Roping Competition if and when it is held in Las Vegas...more