Bareback rider Tim OiConnell from Zwingle, Iowa, hangs on during the 10th and final night of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo Saturday, December 14, 2019, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. (Sam Morris/Las Vegas News Bureau)
Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023 | 2 a.m.
There’s nothing better than when Las Vegas turns into “Cowboy Town” each December, said Tim Keener, president of Las Vegas Events.
“It’s like the Masters (in Augusta, Ga.). It’s like the Little League World Series (in Williamsport, Pa.),” Keener said. “You know where it’s going to be. The road through every small rodeo leads to Las Vegas.”
The National Finals Rodeo, the Super Bowl of the rodeo season, will be contested Thursday through Dec. 16 at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Las Vegas has hosted the event every year — except 2020 because of the pandemic — since the Professional Cowboys Rodeo Association relocated the NFR from Oklahoma City, Okla., in 1985.
The rodeo expects to award $11.5 million in prize money this year, a $600,000 increase from last year’s purse. The first year the rodeo was in Las Vegas, the purse was $1.8 million.
This year’s rodeo is sandwiched between the Nov. 18 Formula One grand prix on the Strip and the Super Bowl on Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium.
Tickets across all 10 days of the rodeo are already sold out, with about 173,500 fans expected to attend.
The rodeo will also be broadcast on the Cowboy Channel — channel 154 on Cox, 603 on DirecTV and 232 on Dish.
The channel, which launched in 2017, has brought added revenue to the NFR through viewership and advertisements.
“What it’s done for us, just endorsements alone, has helped quite a bit,” said cowboy Shane Hanchey, the No. 4 tie-down roper in the world.
“I used to have to pitch to my sponsors that we’ll be on national TV 10 nights out of the year. Now I can pitch it that we’ll be on national TV 200 nights out of the year,” he said.
Hanchey, 34, will make his 14th consecutive NFR appearance and is looking to capture his first championship since 2020, when he placed in seven of the 10 rounds.
The Lake Charles, La., native said that as he’s gotten older, approaching a rodeo is more of a mental exercise, as opposed to just getting on a horse or bull and relying on pure strength to get through the ride.
“It really just comes down to hard work and preparation,” Hanchey said. “I’m a huge sports fan. I see Tiger Woods, Drew Brees, these guys that never seem to let your highs get too high, lows get too low. That’s what I try to model myself after.”
In addition to the rodeo, Cowboy Christmas is returning to Las Vegas. The Western goods bazaar is moving to a larger space at the Las Vegas Convention Center from the main concourse of the Thomas & Mack.
Fans can buy products such as jewelry, boots and furniture from more than 400 vendors. Cowboy Christmas has seen an average of about 280,000 visitors over the past four years.
“We listen to our fans,” Keener said. “We try to work on upgrades and changes to more of the recurring comments that come to us, and space for Cowboy Christmas was one of them.”
Fans won’t be short on entertainment during NFR week, Keener said. Among 27 hotels NFR has partnered with, there will be 104 concerts across 10 days.
Keener said about 6.3 million fans have attended NFR over the past 38 years. “These rodeo fans, they’re the greatest in the world,” he said.
