Rodeo: Lots of top names expected for SandHills
Each of the past two years, the SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo has kicked off the “Winter Tour” of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association schedule.
Added money to the purse, along with increased revenue with television coverage, has allowed the event to draw the top athletes in the sport while continuing to grow in stature.
Some of the growth has come to a screaming halt this year.
Oh, the cowboys and cowgirls will still be here, with more than 900 entrants on the entry list as the 75th annual SandHills kicks off tonight with the first of six performances at Ector County Coliseum. Competition begins at 7:30 p.m. each night.
However, there will be no television and no short-go this year as the PRCA has decided to broadcast just its “Tour Championship,” another of the made-for-TV series of events, ala NASCAR and the PGA.
The officials in the Permian Basin could have elected to have a final short-go — if they were willing to add $2,500 per event to the prize fund. That adds up to $24,000 more to the purse of more than $300,000.
Also, it is not just the SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo that won’t be on television. Denver, San Antonio, Rapid City, S.D., and Cheyenne, Wyo. — all classic rodeos — will not be seen other than by those purchasing tickets.
“We spoke to the people at the City (of Odessa) and they were fine with not having a short round,” said Roger Tuner, the vice president for rodeo for the SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo. “If the other rodeos had been televised and not us, then that would have been different.
“This rodeo still is part of the ProRodeo Tour, so we are going to get the top competitors. It should be an exciting event.”
Now, instead of 13 events leading up to a winter finale event, 26 of the top rodeos have been selected for the ProRodeo Tour, which will culminate in the Tour Championship in the fall.
The SandHills is the first of those events and the points that competitors earn in their respective disciplines go a long way toward helping reach the four-week coronation.
Leading the entrants is Trevor Brazile, the five-time All-Around World Champion who completed a Triple-Crown season in 2007 by winning the all-around, tie-down roping and steer roping world championships. It was the first time that anyone had accomplished the feat since Roy Cooper in 1983.
Other world champions that are expected to compete at Bobby Mote of Culver, Ore. (bareback); Jason Miller of Lance Creek, Wyo. (steer wrestling); Taos Muncy of Corona, N.M. (saddle bronc); team ropers Chad Masters (header) and Walt Woodard (heeler), both of Stephenville; and Wesley Silcox of Payson, Utah (bull riding).
