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Cowboys from all across the U.S. and Canada work all year in hopes of qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo( NFR), the PRCA's premier championship, sometimes referred to as the "Superbowl of Rodeos".
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About National Finals Rodeo
The NFR is held each December in Las-Vegas at the Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las-Vegas. The top 15 regular-season finishers in each event qualify for the NFR and compete for prize money. In December, 2001, this prize money exceeded $4.5 million.
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The NFR features the Top 15 competitors in each of professional rodeo's seven events: saddle bronc riding, bull riding, bareback riding, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling and barrel racing.
Each year over 140,000 people attend the "Sold Out" National Finals Rodeo in Las-Vegas and more than 13 million viewers tuned in when all 10 rounds of the Finals were broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2. The National Finals Rodeo is sold out each and every year, more than a year in advance. A public lottery is held through a mail order system a full year before the event; in previous years approximately 1 out of every 25 of the orders submitted were filled.. Of 1.5 million tickets applied for, less than 40,000 are distributed to the general pubic. Thus, because the Thomas and Mack center venue is small, riders and sponsors are allocated a majority of the seats. Given that there is such a high demand for the rest of the seats from the public, NFR tickets are scarce and hard for the everyday person to obtain.
The NFR has been drawing 'sell out' crowds since the late '70s, when I used to see it at the dome of the old Las-Vegas Convention Center. For the past twenty years the Rodeo has been filling the seats of the Thomas and Mack arena. The NFR is the World Series of rodeo. Events such as saddle bronc and bareback riding, calf and team roping, barrel racing, steer wrestling and bull riding are featured, and if you can't get into the Thomas and Mack for an event, don't pout.
More than fifty thousand folks are expected to visit town for the Rodeo, as usual, but locals have always been attracted to the event, and they have made it a family affair when they go to watch the events.