PRCA shake up

[Bigfoot]

Anybody know what's going on between the PRCA, and many of the "top" contestants. I'm just getting bits and pieces. Sounds like a list of the heavy hitters have approached the association demanding changes, and it fell on a deaf ear. It almost sounds like they are planning a walk out, or starting another association. I don't know which side of conflict I'm rooting for. The top 15 or 20 are really subsidized by by all the card holders behind them, and they intern are subsidized by the permit holders. I'd hate for the top to forget about the middle and the bottom.

 

[Isomade]

http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/p ... s-requests

11 Cowboys led by Trevor Brazile released a statement that they are starting a new association after the PRCA didn't immediately accept their proposal. The PRCA is also leaning towards moving the NFR to Florida, just outside of Orlando.

 

[Bigfoot]

I guess there is truth to the rumor after all.

 

[cross_7]

Looks like the PRCA wanted more money from LVE to host the NFR
reading between the lines I'd guess the big boys in their events wanted more money
LVE said hit the road
PRCA said ok we'll move it to Florida and to appease the big boys we'll give them a special card to earn a few dollars but by doing so we own you and you cannot enter any non-PRCA events
The big boys said no thanks we'll start our own association

There also was something about the PRCA having a system similar to the PBR where the top 25 compete and then have a minor league system that you move up from or fall down to

Tricky deal though

Kirby Cannon: What happened was LVE's bid to retain the NFR was STATUS QUO. No significant changes in reference to the amount of money on the table. The prize money increase only sparingly over the last 10 years. To win a round at the NFR from 2012 to 2013 was just a $400 increase.

The contestants should be earning much more than that at ProRodeo's world championship event, especially considering that the NON-GAMING economic impact for Las Vegas is greater than $90 million in a 10-day time span. LVE expressed it would just go another route.
Over the last few months, there has been talk at the PRCA about establishing a special card for the top players in the game whose intentions were to compete at the NFR. Only those card members will be allowed to compete at the NFR, but if you agree to carry said card, you WOULD NOT be allowed to compete at many of the non-sanctioned events – Houston, Calgary, The American (if it were to continue past 2014), Colorado Springs, etc.
Houston, Calgary and The American offer large purses – $50,000 if you win your event at Houston, $100,000 at the other two.

The contestants put a RULE CHANGE proposal together supporting the NFR card. The proposal was dated Dec. 30, 2013 – one week ago. The proposal called for a change to the PRCA board, increasing the number from 9 to 11 with the additional two board members being NFR card-carrying members (it gets a little more detailed, but that's the general terminology.) The existing board is made up of ONE contract personnel member; TWO committee members (large rodeo and small rodeo); TWO stock contractors; and FOUR contestant directors. That would increase the contestant director number from four to SIX.

The push was to have the board agree to this proposal during a special conference call that took place this past Saturday, five days after the proposal was executed. The board voted down the proposal. The contestants are now going in this direction. They felt they were willing to put it out there they would miss break away rodeos and bring them back to PRCA with this, that the contestants needed to do something to help the PRCA out, the Board rejected it. Pretty much everything in a nutshell.

 

[cross_7]

There also seems to be something else as some of the big rodeos are no longer going to be PRCA sanctioned, kind of fishy ????
If the big boys jump ship I don't know who will suffer more
Look at the PBR VS PRCA bull riding

Professional rodeo's most prominent cowboys say they are defecting from the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association to form their own organization, but they are coy about their views on the future of the National Finals Rodeo or any other major rodeo event in Las Vegas.

The biggest names in rodeo led by 11-time world all-around champion Trevor Brazile — the LeBron James of the rodeo world — signed a statement posted on Facebook this week saying it's time for the sport's top contestants to be directly involved in the sport's future.

One of the organizers, steer wrestler K.C. Jones, on Tuesday confirmed the efforts to leave the PRCA and start a different rodeo cowboy organization.

"It's an exciting time for professional rodeo," Jones told the Review-Journal. He noted cowboys are already talking with rodeo committees and venues about events outside of Colorado Springs, Colo.-based PRCA, the sport's governing body.

Charly Crawford, a seven-time qualifier in the NFR's team roping category, said the motivation behind the efforts is that the sport's top cowboys want a bigger voice in the PRCA's decision-making process. Crawford said the NFR draws the top 120 cowboys, but their voices are not heard at the PRCA board meetings. Overall, there were 5,071 PRCA contestant card holders in 2013.

Crawford also said a concern is big rodeos such as Calgary and Houston are breaking away from PRCA's governance.

And with the PRCA flirting with moving the NFR — the sport's Super Bowl — to Osceola County in Central Florida starting in 2015, Las Vegas might be another city that starts its own major rodeo event outside of the PRCA banner.

"It started a trend now. It's a big concern for us," Crawford said of rodeo cities starting non-PRCA sanctioned events. Crawford said talk of the sport's biggest stars participating in an independent Las Vegas rodeo if the PRCA moves the NFR to Osceola County has surfaced.

"We'd like to talk to Las Vegas," Crawford said of the top cowboys.

In the top cowboys' Facebook statement, posted on the page, "Support Rodeo Contestants," Jones said "It's time for a change."

"After an exhaustive effort of the top cowboys to help save the current structure, we now realize it's time for a change and that there is a huge opportunity for the contestants of professional rodeo to work together to advance the sport," Jones said in the Facebook statement. "We are extremely excited to showcase the best contestants at the best venues to give the fans the top quality action they want."

The page had 14,524 likes as of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Brazile could not be reached for comment Tuesday. His wife, Shada Brazile, an NFR barrel racer, said she also signed the statement.

Brazile did say in the Facebook statement: "We are forming a new organization to work together with committees and sponsors to make sure that the sport of professional rodeo continues to deliver the highest quality product to our great fans. … We appreciate what the PRCA has done for the sport in the past, but at this point we feel the time has come for the top contestants to be more directly involved in the future of our sport."

The Facebook statement does not address specifically why the cowboys want to leave the PRCA and does not bring up the topic of money.

But Crawford said the cowboys' proposal asked for adding two more cowboy representatives to the PRCA's governing board, which currently has four cowboy reps out of the nine board members.

Even though the cowboys' proposal called for six cowboy (or contestant) reps on an 11-member board, Crawford noted the proposal also suggested that an affirmative vote would take at least seven votes. That way, the six contestant reps could not control every vote, Crawford said.

The PRCA rejected the cowboys' proposal for two extra seats at the board table.

The Facebook statement said the top cowboys united last month when the PRCA and Las Vegas Events were negotiating over whether the PRCA will continue staging the prized NFR in Las Vegas after 2014. The 10-day rodeo, considered the Super Bowl of rodeos, has been held in Las Vegas from 29 years. The deal between the PRCA and Las Vegas Events expires after this year's event at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"A group of the top contestants in the sport of professional rodeo have come together to make sure that the integrity of their profession is not lost in the negotiations over the millions of dollars created each year by the fans who flock to the NFR to see the top cowboys and cowgirls compete for the world championship buckles," the Facebook statement said.

On Dec. 15, the PRCA board rejected a Las Vegas Events offer to keep the NFR in Las Vegas for 10 years after 2014, but then the PRCA's members also voted unanimously for the organization to continue negotiating with LVE.

Meanwhile on the same day, Osceola County commissioners in central Florida outside Orlando made an offer to lure the NFR from Las Vegas, committing to $10 million more in prize money for the cowboys, a 24,000-seat rodeo arena and millions of dollars annually for marketing.

PRCA Commissioner Karl Stressman could not be reached for comment Tuesday, while Las Vegas Events President Pat Christenson declined to comment. Stressman said previously that he would send a counteroffer to Las Vegas Events this month on keeping the NFR in Las Vegas.

Some rodeo observers said the cowboys abandoning the PRCA is reminiscent of the bull riders who bolted in 1992 to form Professional Bull Riders.

"It's like deja vu," said Chris Woodruff, a former rodeo bareback rider who runs two retail country and western shows in Las Vegas during NFR.

Bob Thain, a Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame rodeo producer from Reno and former PRCA board member, said this is not the first time cowboys have tried to leave the PRCA.

Thain advised the cowboys: "People don't come to see the individuals. People come for a good time and tickets that are not $200 like they are to watch the 49ers."

 

[Bigfoot]

I didn't know some of the big rodeos were going to no longer be PRCA rodeos. I'm not sure of the advantage of that to either side. If it's not a PRCA rodeo, then that $ want count towards the finals. As long as people keep coming to watch the rodeo, I guess the town the rodeo it's held in will still prosper.

 

[chippie]

The Houston Livestock Show Rodeo has not been a PRCA Rodeo going on 3 years. It is an Invitational Rodeo and the best of the best compete for the big $$$.