NFR kicks off this week. Here’s what to know
Two weeks after the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix drew hundreds of thousands of fans to the city, the sports and entertainment capital of the world is transitioning to its second major holiday season special event, the National Finals Rodeo.
Ten rodeo performances are scheduled Thursday through Dec. 14 at the Thomas &Mack Center on UNLV’s campus.
The 40th running of the event is one of the toughest tickets in town to get because the rodeo has sold out 359 consecutive performances.
Top rodeo competitors
The rodeo attracts the world’s top 15 contestants in bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing and bull riding based on seasonlong standings, pursuing more than $12.5 million in prize money and a championship belt buckle.
“You can tell in the office here, there’s not a whole lot of idle chitchat right now,” said Tim Keener, president of Las Vegas Events, the nonprofit that serves as the local liaison to the Colorado Springs, Colorado-based Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
“Everybody’s moving in one direction and, yeah, we’re ready. We’re ready,” he said in an interview a week before the event. “We’re excited. “This week and move-in week, those are our busiest times. Once you get to opening day, believe it or not, the job just kind of settles in.”
The Fremont Street Experience will be the setting Wednesday for the pre-rodeo Downtown Hoedown that will feature performances by Jenna Paulette, Chase Matthew, Jackson Dean, Annie Boskow and Randy Houser.
On Friday, team roping champions Speed Williams and Rich Skelton will be recognized, and on Saturday, all-around champ Joe Beaver will be spotlighted. The trio also will make appearances at The Cowboy Channel Cowboy Christmas retail show and each will receive a bronze statue and a banner celebrating their history will be hoisted to the top of the Thomas &Mack Center rafters.
The last flurry of activity before the first rodeo go-round on Thursday are the finishing touches of planning that began days after the 2023 NFR ended. During the last six months, committees have chipped away at details to make sure everything is in place when the first cowboys enter the arena.
Rodeo highlights
Possibly the biggest announcement involving NFR occurred in June when Las Vegas Events and the PRCA jointly announced a contract revision that will keep the rodeo in Las Vegas through 2035. The new agreement will disburse $264.3 million to the prize purse and stock contractors.
“Everything’s bigger and better for them with the new purse and the stock payouts,” Keener said.
The 2024 deal was rewritten, adding $1.3 million to the payout as a signing bonus. Another $1.3 million will be added the next year and then every year past that, the combined payouts will go up an additional $1 million a year.
The rodeo’s NFR Access ONLY tickets went on sale for $75 each in late August. They provide standing-room access and to watch the event at the Cowboy Corral, The Cowboy Channel Bar, Bull ’N Barrel Saloon and ProRodeo Zone at the arena.
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On two nights of the NFR, winners of a contest to sing the anthem will perform, and on a third night, a representative from the armed forces will sing. Other singers will include Kylie Frey, Mary Millben, Old Hickory, Paige King Johnson, Lynnae Meyers (Canadian anthem), Tyler Booth, Mae Estes and SJ McDonald.
Other performers scheduled for NFR include Vegas Night, Zach Top, Easton Corbin, Anne Martinez, Gabby Barrett, Josh Ward, Marine Band San Diego, Estes, Wynonna Judd and Gold Night.
One of the best parts of NFR is the ease of access getting to the arena for each rodeo performance. LVE announced that 14 shuttle bus routes would be in place for rodeo fans staying at various resorts. Fans will be able to get round-trip rides from MGM Grand, Sam’s Town, New York-New York, The Strat, Westgate, The Orleans, Gold Coast, Palms, Rio, Circa, Golden Nugget, Plaza, The D, Downtown Grand, Mandalay Bay, Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, Treasure Island, Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Resorts World, Harrah’s, Horseshoe, Silverton and South Point. There’s also a one-way express shuttle from the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall.
Rodeo champs may be the most accessible professional athletes to their fans and LVE has organized autograph sessions at several resort venues. Sessions will include barrel racers at the Golden Nugget grand foyer on Dec. 6, tie-down ropers at the MGM Grand main lobby Dec. 7, team ropers at the Horseshoe at Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Sports Kitchen on Dec. 9, steer wrestlers at Circa Las Vegas’ Underhang Bar on Dec. 10, bull riders at Treasure Island’s Gilley’s Saloon on Dec. 11, bareback riders at New York-New York’s Beerhaus on Dec. 12 and saddle bronc riders at Resorts World’s Wrangler Dawg House Saloon on Dec. 13. Sessions run 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The free admission Cowboy Channel Cowboy Christmas retail show will have various programming on multiple stages at the Convention Center. Attendees can browse and shop while being entertained every day it’s open. The Ariat Rodeo Live Stage on the second floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s South Hall will include such hosts and programming as Live With Lucia, Conserving Country with hosts Shane Minor and Garrison Allen, Outside the Barrel with Flint Rasmussen and The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Calcutta.
Soaking up ambience
Keener said one of the remarkable aspects of NFR is that thousands more people are in Las Vegas during the rodeo than there are performance tickets. He said visitors enjoy soaking in western ambience, whether that’s because of cowboy culture or the popularity of television shows like “Yellowstone” that depict modern-day cowboys.
Fans invariably wind up at resort venues to watch the rodeo live and for free on big screens in theaters and ballrooms. Fans get in to watch the event, make new friends and buy food from the property’s food and beverage outlets, then recall the rodeo highlights at after-parties.
34 resorts get TV feed
Keener said there are 34 resorts in Las Vegas, Laughlin and Mesquite that take the television feed.
In addition, resort showrooms have booked country performers for concerts. Keener said 114 acts have been booked for the duration of the rodeo.
During last year’s NFR, tragedy struck the UNLV campus when a man randomly shot and killed three university professors and wounded three more at the Frank and Estella Beam Hall, home of UNLV’s Lee Business School. The shooter then killed himself.
The shooting occurred the day before opening night of the rodeo. LVE and NRCA officials huddled and decided to cancel opening night. But because the rodeo traditionally has 10 performances, it was decided to add a session the following week and invite first responders and the UNLV community to a morning rodeo go-round at no charge.
About 4,500 attended the Wednesday morning session.
“While there was a financial impact of losing one day’s worth of ticket sales, in the bigger picture it was the right thing to do to do a makeup performance on that following Wednesday and we weren’t able to turn around tickets that fast,” Keener said. “So we came up with the idea of bringing in the contestant families and bringing in the UNLV faculty, staff and students and first responders. Believe it or not, there were so many, all we wanted them to do was wear Rebel Red that day, that morning, and so many of them came in and in a lot of cases it was their first time back on campus.”
At Friday’s go-round, a moment of silence will be observed in remembrance of the UNLV tragedy.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.