Cowboy Christmas expanding footprint

When asked what makes The Cowboy Channel Cowboy Christmas so great every year, Bo Gardner hardly had to think at all about the answer.

“I’m going to say tradition,” said Gardner, vice president of corporate marketing for Las Vegas Events. “We stick to what works and just continue to improve it.”

You can’t argue with the results. For decades, Cowboy Christmas has been synonymous with the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. And with The Cowboy Channel now in its third year as title sponsor of Cowboy Christmas, Patrick Gottsch and his crew are getting into a groove.

“We’re starting to be veterans. Everybody is familiar with it,” said Gottsch, CEO of The Cowboy Channel, who then made a comparison to the four-time all-around world champion. “We’re kind of like Stetson Wright. He was nervous the first time he won the all-around title, then he was confident the second time. Now maybe he’s a little bit cocky!”

Gottsch, Gardner and their respective teams have earned the right to be a little cocky, as they continue making Cowboy Christmas better each year.

Oh, and bigger, too. In years past, the event took over the first and second floors of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s South Halls. This year, because of some renovations, The Cowboy Channel Cowboy Christmas lost about 90,000 square feet of space.

But the event gained that square footage and more by expanding into Central Hall 2. The Wrangler Rodeo Arena, which hosts the Junior World Finals during the NFR, moves from the South Hall second floor to Central Hall 2. Taking the arena’s place on the South Hall second floor is the Ariat Live Stage, moving from the South Hall first floor.

That allows a bigger, more comfortable footprint for the Ariat Live Stage, which features live entertainment all day long throughout the 10-day NFR, including the wildly popular Outside the Barrel with Flint Rasmussen.

And there are more vendors this year, as well, thanks to the expansion into Central Hall.

“We had over 400 exhibitors on the wait list last year, and only 360 exhibitors on our floors. We’ll choose maybe 60 of those 400, and they’ll go into the expanded hall,” Gardner said, meaning the number of exhibitors surpasses 400.

There will certainly be plenty of customers making their way through the South and Central Halls, but it’ll be an even better experience. More room, more shopping, more food and beverage.

“We had 280,000 fans over 10 days in 2022,” Gardner said. “There were lines with the exhibitors, and with food and beverage. Our fans said that made it difficult to have the typical experience of Cowboy Christmas. And we are very passionate about our shopping experience, for our fans and our exhibitors.

“We knew then we had to make a change. We can’t take away 90,000 square feet after the fan survey says we’re crowded.”

But wait, there’s more! With the Ariat stage moving upstairs in the South Halls, a new entertainment venue takes center stage — literally — on the first floor of the South Halls. The Cowboy Channel Stage will sit smack-dab in the middle of the expansive space, where all rodeo fans can easily access it.

The stage will host shows throughout each day of the NFR, including the entertaining NFR Tailgate Show — think College GameDay, but for rodeo — which will be preceded by NFR Deep Dive, a midday panel discussing all things rodeo.

The Ariat Live Stage is adding Live with Lucia each day at 10:30 a.m., featuring popular rodeo announcer and personality Anthony Lucia. That’s followed by Cowboy Revival hosted by Shane Minor at 11:30 a.m., then Rasmussen’s Outside the Barrel at 12:30 p.m., and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Calcutta at 1:30 p.m.

Outside the convention halls, the parking situation dramatically improves for those attending Cowboy Christmas.

“Another complaint we received was with parking,” Gardner said.“Now, the trailers and trucks here for the Junior World Finals will move to the Central Halls in a non-public lot. That will open up additional parking across University Drive, and that’s our largest parking lot for the South Halls.

“We checked the boxes. Fans said it was too crowded, not enough parking, and that there needed to be more areas to socialize, and more food and beverage. We have a Bites and Brews food court on the second level of the South Halls and in the Central Halls. So we’ve doubled our food-court space.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Gottsch is particularly enthused about The Cowboy Channel Stage.

“We’re really excited about that. We’ll be doing stuff all day there, from open to close,” Gottsch said. “Being right in the middle, it doesn’t matter what entrance people use, they’ll be able to find the stage. It’s gonna be really convenient for us.”

And a great time for fans, especially during the daily three-hour NFR Tailgate. And keep in mind that pretty much all of the live programming from the convention halls — and of course the NFR itself — will be broadcast either on The Cowboy Channel or Gottsch’s latest endeavor, The Cowgirl Channel, which launched in March.

“With The Cowgirl Channel, we’re gonna get even more aggressive with fashion. We really want to have fun with that,” Gottsch said. “This will be as much The Cowgirl Channel Cowboy Christmas as it is The Cowboy Channel Cowboy Christmas. Probably even more so.

“Women make up well over half the people who attend Cowboy Christmas. They really appreciate that they now have their own network. It’s the only women’s sports network. And right now, there’s nothing more popular in Western sports than barrel racing and breakaway roping.”

The Cowgirl Channel’s presence on that center-floor stage is yet another element sure to attract rodeo fans from now through Dec. 16. Gottsch is also excited about the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, an underground transportation system that allows for ease of traveling within the convention center halls and to Resorts World on the north end of the Strip. The Loop is a huge boon for those traveling to and from Cowboy Christmas.

“People really saw a lot of value in that Tesla tunnel last year,” Gottsch said. “It works out well in the daytime for people who don’t want to hassle with traffic and parking. Just go to the tunnel, take a Tesla and get over there.”

It’s just another avenue by which Gottsch and Gardner anticipate record attendance this year. But the fact that rodeo is as popular as ever could be the linchpin to record numbers. Throughout this year, The Cowboy Channel criss-crossed the country broadcasting rodeos, and Gottsch noticed attendance is booming. That’s potentially a tremendous precursor for Cowboy Christmas and NFR events all over town.

“If the summer rodeos are any indication, it’s gonna be a record crowd. People are loving and embracing rodeo and the Western sports lifestyle. There’s tremendous momentum,” Gottsch said. “The stands are full of families. People of all ages are rediscovering those traditions and values. They could double the size of Cowboy Christmas and it would fill up. There’s no better place if you’re involved in anything related to the Western lifestyle.

“Whether it’s clothing, art, furniture, jewelry, tack or entertainment, it’s all there for everybody — kids, teens and grownups. You’ll want to be at The Cowboy Channel Cowboy Christmas this year.”