This stinks for Oklahomans

[Gus]

For what it's worth, there's an interesting conversation on the Breeders Chat Board about would they rather have their bulls selected for the NFR or the PBR finals. A majority say they would rather have them go to the NFR. (although, some of them add that going to both would be great).

[cowboy4443]

Gus, if you had $50,000 in a bull would you rather have it rode at a packed house at NFR or watch it get soaked and nearly cut in half by a Brazilian rope at Mandalay Bay? As far as NFR selling out the house a year in advance because they are a 7 event rodeo instead just bull riding; when was the last time you saw bull riding first (instead of last event) at any rodeo. 95% of the people goes to a rodeo for the bull riding (every Pepsi & nacho man would go broke if bullriding was first event). Do you think people drive for hours to watch a clown ride a stick pony or blow up a shoe box? I team rope which is like sex... everyone enjoys doing it, but few care to watch. Don't get me wrong, we went to PBR vegas this year and had a blast, but truly feel the NFR is more of the cowboy way.
Charlie

[Gus]

No question I'd rather be at the NFR and have my bull in the rank pen or the 10th round. I'd also agree that bull riding is the most popular event for fans, although I know plenty of real life working cowboys who go to the NFR for the bronc riding and are at the Aligator Bar in the Orleans by the time the bull riding starts.

[milo]

I've been a fan of PBR since the beginning, but there's been a lot of BS going on the last few years that hasn't set well, and politics is one of them. The PBR wants to be the "only game in town", so they play games like this. If the other bull riding organizations are such "minor" leagues, what is PBR afraid of? People who want to see bull riding will patronize both events. It's unfair to say that PBR is the only organization with the best riders and best bulls - if you've watched the others at all, PBR riders like the Carrillos, Samsel, Newberry, and many others ride in those events when there's not a PBR event at the same time, or if they don't make the top 45 cut. Little Yellow Jacket, Blueberry Wine and many other top bulls have been in CBR and PRCA events. There's room in the bull riding world for other organizations besides PBR - not everyone wants to put up with the politics of the PBR - some bull riding fans either can't, or don't want to attend PBR events, and some fans just plain don't like all the fancy trappings and prefer rodeo/bull riding as it used to be.

[WI8SecFan]

Well said Milo! My thoughts exactly, although I enjoy attending both the PBR events and the other association events but for different reasons and the different experiences.

Oh and Charlie I have to disagree about team roping. I LOVE to watch a great roping team that has really great timing. There is something poetic watching the header do a perfect turn.

PS Welcome to the board Milo!

Just forgot to add. It is too bad that they are not coming back to Tulsa. It was a great fevent last year and they really hyped up the 3 year agreement that they had set-up with the city during the event.

[BucknSpin]

Welcome to the board, Milo!

Just wanna say that I agree with you totally. I also want to add that if there were a PRCA event, a PBR event and a CBR event held near me all in the same month, you can bet that I'll be trying my hardest to go to all three.

If Randy Bernard thinks that the PBR is the best thing going out there, he shouldn't mind a little "healthy" competition to keep the PBR a top-notch organization with the best riders, the best bulls, the highest payouts and the biggest fan base. Sounds to me like he says one thing but thinks another. Actually a little paranoid, if you ask me..............

[tenesseerustler]

I dont think it has anything to do with a little competition. I believe it has to do with the fact the randy had set up a date to be there and then The who's who's of tulsa decided they did not want to honor a prior agreement. It is the city of tulsa's fault not Randy. Randy is not the problem. He tried to briung the event he commited to the city and the city reniged.

[milo]

First of all, thank you for the welcome to the board. I found you all through the Fried Twinkies blog and was happy that I did. Since the PBR tanked their board I've been searching for another, and glad to be here. Part of Randy Bernard's statements say that the PBR takes the stance that they have to distance themselves from markets that host competing minor league events just weeks prior to a PBR event. Maybe I'm not understanding correctly, but to me that means they want to be the only game in town and "if you don't play by our rules, we don't play." I'm with BucknSpin - if there are back to back rodeo/bull riding events in our area that we want to see, we will try our best to be at all of them. We attended the Xtreme Bulls Finals in Reno in October. They didn't have a very big crowd, but everyone seemed to enjoy it - for us it was just good bull riding without all the distractions of the PBR, and it was held at Lawlor Events Center where PBR used to be held. We also attended the PBR event in Reno in March, and I don't think we will go back. For whatever reason, PBR chose the Downtown Events Center to hold the event and in our opinion, it was not a good venue for a bull riding. We bought fan club seats and were stuck on the side, at the end of the arena. The slope of the seating was such that we missed a lot of the bull riding due to people running back and forth to the concession stands or bathrooms. I don't know about anyone else, but when I go to an event, I'm there to see the event, and those seats were horrible, especially for fan club seats!!

[tenesseerustler]

Milo i misread the release i am sorry. I thought they just pulled it from Bernard. That makes a little more sense what you are saying now. The idea about the fan club is the fact they know you will go and so to entice others they give them the best seats in the house hoping they will come back again instead of a one time novelty.. It would be nice to get the best but hey you went anyways as do millions of others every year.

[Gus]

Here's the main difference between PBR events and PRCA events: The PBR is a drop-in special event, whereas, PRCA rodeos/bull ridings are by and large put on by local committees and therefore tied to the community. To steal a line from a great president: PBR says ask not what we can do for your community. Ask what your community can do for us. Whereas PRCA is just the opposite.

San Antonio, Houston, Reno rodeos all put hundreds of thousands of dollars back into the community through scholarships and other charities. PBR is looking for a place where the TV cameras can roll to the satisfaction of their national sponsors. They provide a weekend of entertainment to the local crowd and I'm not sure what else.

And Milo, I wouldn't give up on Reno PBR just yet. They do have a local partnership and are vowing to make it better this year. I think they have two more years in the Events Center and then hope to move it back to Lawlor.

[csb]

Not only that, but the rodeos benefit local economies much more than a PBR event does. If you have a rodeo that takes 60 contestants in each event, thats 480 contestants. They need places to eat, sleep, and buy supplies. They may also have families or traveling partners who arent entered in the rodeo. On top of that you have fans visiting the town for a weekend getaway, so they are there for four days. They need places to eat, sleep, etc. and they may also take part in other activities besides the rodeo which brings in more money. Then you have stock contractors and other rodeo personel that bring in even more money. Obviously, a rodeo is much better for the community.

[cowgirl4life30]

I think we opened Pandora's Box in this thread...

Anyway, CSB... I think you are right and wrong. Some of the bigger rodeos no doubt bring in more money to the communities. Gaurenteed the NFR brings in more than the PBR World Finals.

However, I know many people that attend smaller PRCA rodeos do not stay the night, many drive from their homes and leave that night after the rodeo and go home. Plus, many of the competitors leave the night of the event to drive to the next event. Also, many PRCA guys don't rent hotel rooms, some sleep in their cars and in the event that they do, they cram quite a few guys in a room. At the PBR, I rarely see more than one or two guys to a room. Even guys that travel together still don't share a room. Many fans don't stay at PRCA events because they don't get the one on one contact with the competitors like they do on the PBR (since a lot of PRCA guys are in a hurry to get to the next event and the PBR makes the guys to signings, after parties and appearances. I guess I shouldn't say make, b/c quite a few guys go to the after parties that aren't scheduled to make appearances, instead they like partying with fans). Plus, the PBR events are usually 2 days or even 3 days. And when they do the one day events they usually try to keep the events somewhat close to eachother.

So, yes at the bigger events PRCA may be better for the communities but def. not the majority!

[chrisshiversluver]

I think that if Randy Bernard wants to pull out of Tulsa let him. I mean maybe it will come back to bite him later down the road(hopefully). He will learn from this mistake (and yes it is a mistake) and hopefully in the 2007 season he will come back. I dont agree with Randy and how he wants to make the PBR the soul bull riding organization, the PBR was derived from the PRCA so therefore i believe that the PRCA has superiority over the PBR. Dont get me wrong im a die hard PBR fan but i think that Randy is a little out of line on this one. As for which organization is better: its a toss up, they are all so different, i mean the PRCA is a real rodeo, but the PBR is it...its the light camera and action, its the organization that get the most credit whether they want it or not thats just the way it is.

[cowgirl4life30]

I never said it didn't... I was making the point that both organizations are good for local communities.. the person before me made it sound like the PRCA is much better than the PBR for that and well I don't see a huge difference unless we are talking big time PRCA rodeos. I am a fan of both organizations and will stand up for both.

[milo]

Thanks Gus, for the information about the Reno PBR event. We probably won't go this next year, but will see what happens following. We gave up our season tickets to the PBR Finals for next year too - ten years ago the seats were in the lower section, right at the end of the chutes. Over the years they've been re-configuring the arena so that this year the seating was behind the chutes (same seats) and we had to watch the big screen to see the rides at our end of the arena. That wasn't the only reason we gave them up - the PBR Finals has evolved into such a "production" that there are more media people in the arena than contract personnel, cameras in your face everywhere, and the breaks for TV have gotten longer and longer. We decided we could see better from our easy chairs at home and save the $1000+ it costs to attend an event. Will attend our favorite live events during the season though.