LAS VEGAS - Today, in an historic meeting in Las Vegas, the rodeo industry came together under one roof to chart rodeo’s future. The athletes, stock contractors, rodeo organizing committees, and event promoters in attendance at South Point Hotel & Casino were welcomed by PBR CEO Sean Gleason in this keynote speech charting the vision of the newly formed WCRA (World Champions Rodeo Alliance), and issuing a call for industry-wide collaboration to grow America’s first sport:

Many visionary and brilliant people have contributed to the remarkable rise of the PBR. While in my nearly two decades with the sport, I’ve made some contributions to our success, I stand before you simply as the witness to our rise and how that relates to WCRA.

Because of my profession, I am also an avid student of the western lifestyle and western sports. 

I was raised in a rural community and spent most of my youth on the back of a horse.  So I’m not merely a student of the western lifestyle; I am a product of it.

Like the vast majority of people raised in the lifestyle, I left it for the big city where I spent 15 years in music, video and computer games before finding my way back.

I don’t expect you to take everything that I have to say on face value, but I have been around the block a time or two when it comes to western sports and the western lifestyle.

Scott Davis is going to explain what WCRA is in greater detail a little later.  I want to talk about why we believe WCRA is important for the rodeo industry & PBR

Spoiler Alert: There are no ground-breaking or brand new revelations coming from me. Much of this will be obvious to many of you.

This isn’t rocket science: it’s rodeo, bull riding and western sports.

The industry has turned into a complicated mess over the years, but it is not an extremely complicated business.

What I hope you get out of today is an understanding of the opportunities we see and intend to address in western sports, particularly rodeo.

And most importantly, why you should support WCRA and PBR in these efforts.

I will dive into the specifics on our view of the rodeo business and WCRA’s role in a minute.  First I think it is important to note, that many of the challenges the industry faces today stem from the fact that all of us are in a battle to keep the western lifestyle alive and well.

The entire lifestyle is under attack.

Farming, ranching, rural living and all elements that we would associate with the western lifestyle are in decline.

I was in New York City about a dozen years ago before our first big event in Madison Square Garden.  I was walking from the hotel to the arena, and about a half a block ahead of me, a woman was strolling along with her two young children. I saw them pointing and motioning to their mother with great excitement. 

I looked around. Behind me was was a guy with a purple mohawk, face tattoos, and multiple piercings. He was dressed to match.  I felt a sense of relief knowing that I wasn’t the oddball. 

As they approached, the kids kept pointing, but it was in fact at me and my cowboy hat.  They had never seen a cowboy in real life, but apparently they had seen plenty of punk rockers with purple mohawks.

It’s been decades since the average person on the streets of American cities has been exposed to rodeo and cowboys.  They recognize the cowboy hat and know what it represents. But they don’t understand who we are, what we stand for, and that we aren’t just a secret cult living in the fly over-states.

It should be no great mystery that the sports associated with the lifestyle are being challenged. 

Rodeo may have fallen out of favor with mainstream America a long time ago, but I am absolutely convinced that doesn’t have to be the case.  PBR has proven it.

It is important to note that those in the industry who view PBR and PRCA -- or rodeo in general -- as competitors, or something dramatically different, are just plain wrong. 

PBR’s roots run deep in rodeo. We wear cowboy hats. We ride animals. We compete on dirt, and we celebrate the western lifestyle all across America. 

To the vast majority of Americans and others around the world, we are one in the same.

PBR has never, and I mean never, viewed the sport of rodeo as a competitor. We are committed to doing all we can to bring unity to the industry.

The last thing rodeo needs is to be more fractured.  There has been plenty of that over the years.

We are working directly with the PRCA to explore a path that could bring it all together.

(PRCA CEO) George Taylor and I have met several times since he joined the PRCA, and we’ll meet again this month, along with (WCRA CEO) Gary McKinney, to keep exploring how we can make the industry, and the sport of rodeo, stronger.

But the industry needs an agent of positive change.

PBR has proposed partnership opportunities every couple of years over the past 20. While we have never viewed the PRCA as competition, for whatever reason, many in the rodeo community seem to think that we are the enemy.

I’m here to tell you, it is not a binary choice. 

Rodeo is stronger today because of PBR’s success and we will be stronger if rodeo reverses its trend.

I believe George Taylor recognizes that as well, and I am optimistically hopeful that he can also be an agent of positive change.

But as agents of change and for-profit businesses, PBR and WCRA can’t compromise core business drivers because others want to be in charge or think their way is better.

Compromise, yes.  Compromise the fundamentals that we believe are critical to success, no.

PBR’s success is undeniable. We’ve been fortunate to not have to serve multiple masters and cater to widely varying opinions about how our business should move forward.

WCRA is making a significant investment in the rodeo business, and it isn’t for charity. But that shouldn’t be feared by the industry, it should be embraced.

The rodeo industry needs a force to move it forward.  It’s been stuck in neutral or reverse for a long time.

No disrespect intended, but no single organization in the business of rodeo is positioned, chartered or equipped to do it on their own.

PBR and WCRA are certainly not going to be successful on our own.

I told somebody a long time ago that if I ever got into the rodeo business to just go ahead and shoot me in the back of the head.

Over the past year, I’ve been constantly looking over my shoulder because I don’t remember who it was that I told, and I’m a little concerned they will remember.

But here we are, it is time for PBR to get into the business.

We are not getting in the rodeo business to control it or take it over, or to tell everybody how it should be done, or to profit at the expense of others.

And we are most assuredly not getting in the business to hurt the PRCA or established rodeo events.

We are getting into the business, because we believe there is incredible opportunity for rodeo.

PBR visits dozens of cities across the country each year -- from Maine to California and Florida to Washington. We spend time in New York City and Sioux Falls South Dakota. We see hundreds of thousands of people and hear from hundreds of thousands more through social media and direct contact.

A significant percentage of the people in this country, by my estimation about half, are looking for something real, something wholesome, something American, regardless of where they live or how they were brought up. They not only share our values, they crave them.

PBR is embraced by millions of those people.

And rodeo might be an even more authentic product than ours to meet that need.

Regardless, the opportunity is real, the opportunity is significant and the opportunity is now.

A PBR and WCRA partnership is uniquely positioned to take advantage of those opportunities.

PBR chose to align with the WCRA because it is the first entity entering the rodeo space that is not just trying to grab a share of a shrinking pie.

We had the opportunity to help craft the business plan to ensure it would fit with our objectives.

We share Gary McKinney’s vison that we can bring positive change to the industry.

And we are inspired by Gary’s commitment to bring investment to an industry that needs it desperately.

We aligned with WCRA because they are in it for all the right reasons, and  because their success will lift all boats higher and create more opportunities for everyone associated with the industry, including PBR.

And WCRA chose to align with PBR because we have experience and expertise when it comes to the fundamentals that will make the WCRA a successful business.

If you’re thinking about getting into the rodeo business, or any other sports business, now is the time to take notes.  These are keys to success:

-          Provide an engaging sports and entertainment experience

-          Sell tickets by consistently over-delivering for every fan

-          Maximize media exposure and monetize it if you can

-          Leverage your live event and media audience to sell sponsorship and advertising

-          Ensure the prosperity of your athletes – on both sides of the rope – for they are your product.

-          Adapt and change as the market demands it

-          Use all of that to develop, engage and maintain fans

At the heart of it, WCRA is designed to address all of those levers.

WCRA is essentially an event promoter, making a significant investment and firm commitment to establish new, large-payout rodeos.

Together, PBR and WCRA will create four new $1 million dollar rodeos in conjunction with major PBR events each year.

Each of the four rodeos will be preceded by a $500,000 semi-finals that will determine the contestants who advance to compete for a share of the $1 million dollar purse.

All totaled, WCRA will deliver $6 million dollars in prize money to the industry as a result of its investment.

PBR has a proven track record building large format western lifestyle events. On some level, we do it every weekend of the year in cities all across America.

Specifically, with respect to our plans with WCRA, we executed Randy Bernard’s vision to create The American. 

We embraced it on the same weekend as PBR’s Iron Cowboy event at AT&T Stadium and have produced it every year since inception. It was PBR’s six years of experience in the stadium and our dirt, steel, lights, video, sound system, TV trucks, personnel and other production resources that provided the foundation for the event to exist.

We will leverage the same proven formula to create four WCRA events, roughly one each quarter, in different cities across the country.

All of the credit belongs to Randy and RFD for the vision and risk that have made The American one of the only significant investments in a new rodeo in decades. But PBR certainly played an important role given our experience and resources.

I wish I could tell you today that we were going to move forward with The American as an integrated part of our strategy with WCRA.

Despite tireless efforts to align the agendas, we could not reach an agreement around scheduling and other matters that made sense to both parties. In 2019, the PBR Iron Cowboy and The American will be conducted on separate weekends.

We are moving our agenda forward with WCRA in other markets.

Geographic expansion and the accessibility of rodeo are critical to rebuilding a national interest in America’s first sport.

You can’t expect people in an area of the country that has limited access to rodeo to embrace it, understand it and ultimately become fans.

Rodeo must be accessible before you can begin the hard work of building an audience that will pay to see it and a fan base that follows rodeo as a sport.

To many, the idea of taking rodeo east of the Mississippi river is a fool’s errand. They will gladly point out that there are no significant rodeos out east in or near the major markets, which is then deemed to be proof that there isn’t any demand for it.

If that were true, then PBR wouldn’t be celebrating 12 years in Madison Square Garden, or selling out Allstate Arena in Chicago. We wouldn’t be setting records in St. Louis, Columbus and certainly not Portland and Bangor Maine.

Yes, PBR is a different product. But we built a western sports fan base from nothing by making the events accessible and then we worked really hard to build an audience. 

The same people who tell you that rodeo won’t work are the same ones that said bull riding wouldn’t work.

Those same people will tell you that the fans abandoned rodeo and that’s why the events don’t exist anymore. I believe that rodeo abandoned the fans in most places.

We are working with the WCRA to identify new markets where we can take large format rodeos and make them successful. 

Unfortunately, there are a lot of options and a lot of places that need rodeo events.

We have aspirations to bring rodeo and PBR to iconic places like Mercedes Benz stadium in Atlanta, or Soldier Field in Chicago.

That doesn’t mean that every event is going to start out in a stadium like AT&T.  We need to walk before we run.

It also doesn’t mean we are going to have a 100 percent success rate. Failure is one step on the ladder to success.  We should know, we’ve made plenty of mistakes over the years.

The industry should be embracing any event promoter who wants to create new events and take chances on the rodeo product.  I can assure you, there aren’t many – if any – other organizations willing to do so.

We’ve been talking with the PRCA about focusing on areas of the country where rodeo needs to be reintroduced. That is not only opportunistic for WCRA – bringing events where there isn’t competition – it’s good for the industry. Hopefully, that dialogue will continue.

When I say that rodeo abandoned the fans, it’s because every product must adapt to the changing tastes of its customers. Rodeo hasn’t significantly changed the product in about 100 years.

Holding onto history for the sake of history, while consumer tastes are changing, is a recipe for obsolescence.

As I see it, consumer tastes changed, rodeo didn’t change. Consumers stopped spending their money to attend and rodeos went out of business.

If the demand had completely evaporated, PBR would not be successfully selling tickets in virtually any market that we go into. 

The rodeo product needs to evolve and meet the demands of the consumer, which will vary from market to market.

With all due respect to the contestants, calf-roping will not go over well in Madison Square Garden or most of the major markets around the country, especially east of the Mississippi.

Is holding on to calf roping a good reason for rodeo to abandon a market? I don’t think so. If the rest of the rodeo disciplines are an appealing product, fix the problem with the product. Don’t abandon the market on principle.

Those unyielding principles, and the inability of the sanctioning organization to recognize the needs of local event promoters, are among the reasons why three of the biggest rodeos in the world are not sanctioned by the PRCA. You can’t blame Houston, Salt Lake City and Calgary. They responded to the desires of their customers and the needs of their business.

WCRA isn’t in the sanctioning business.  It has adopted a business strategy that will accommodate any event format with aligned partners, so long as the competition is credible. 

When it comes to the event formats of WCRA promoted events, we will continue to experiment until we find the right formula for each market.

This weekend in Las Vegas is an eight-man progressive format that does feature all seven traditional rodeo disciplines, culminating in a head-to-head match in each discipline. That will make for a more media friendly product. I’ll talk more about that in a minute.

That format would not presently be approved by the PRCA, despite the fact that it was structured to meet the needs of the consumer. At the heart of it, everyone should recognize that if your business isn’t structured to be a marketing or media company, you’re not going to be very good at it.

It’s also important to note that should we find ourselves in a situation where one or more of the traditional disciplines need to be cut from an event, WCRA plans to offer opportunities to those contestants in a market that is appropriate.

That flexibility will allow WCRA to adapt the rodeo product to meet the demands of the consumer or create alliances with forward thinking events that already understand that reality. It doesn’t need to fundamentally change the essence of rodeo.

Media exposure is the key to any sports success. But there hasn’t been meaningful coverage of rodeo – at least outside of the NFR – in decades.

Last year, PBR put The American on CBS network television for the first time that rodeo has been on network TV since the 70’s or early 80’s. 

The broadcast delivered about 1.2 million viewers and ranked among the top sports on that weekend – a week delayed!

That’s no fluke, folks; it demonstrated demand for rodeo across America, and that media is an important avenue to expose the sport to new fans.

One of the primary reasons that PBR aligned with WCRA was around the media opportunities we see for rodeo.

In 2015, PBR was acquired by Endeavor (formerly WME/IMG). Endeavor owns UFC, Miss Universe, Rally Cross, the Miami Open Tennis Tournament and a host of other sports and entertainment properties. 

We are also one of the largest talent representation agencies and TV and film packagers in the world.

To say that Endeavor is uniquely positioned to bring expertise and capabilities to the western sports industry is an understatement. So while PBR is on the forefront of this initiative, we are an Endeavor company, I am an Endeavor employee and we benefit from deep expertise, resources and access.

We will bring our unique ability to create, produce, package and place rodeo coverage and athlete storytelling to advance the sport in media. If we can make Bonner Bolton a top fashion model and put him on Dancing with the Stars, we can accomplish almost anything.

Two months ago, PBR launched RidePass, the first network on the proprietary Endeavor digital platform.  Subsequently, Endeavor acquired Neulion, the leader in providing OTT network services, support and marketing to sports properties. Neulion is now wholly owned by Endeavor, providing us the most progressive digital sports platform in the industry. 

If you haven’t been following the trends in traditional television, you need to. Digital over-the-top networks are the future of media distribution.

RidePass is a 24/7 western sports digital network, and one of PBR’s most important strategic initiatives.  We will be the most comprehensive source of western sports content.

We’ve already signed a number of exciting partnerships with great organizations like the National High School Rodeo, the Indian National Finals and some exciting rodeo news you’ll hear about in a minute. 

RidePass will always be the exclusive digital home for everything PBR. Nobody else will have access to our content, and we remain hopeful that others in the industry will recognize our strengths as a media company and join us. We want to leverage that expertise to bring new value to the entire industry, instead of taking it away from anyone.

We are not acquiring rights to rodeos and western sports properties to offer them exclusively through RidePass. TV still plays an important role in the media landscape, and it will be many years before an exclusive digital platform can reach everyone who needs to be reached.

As a current, real-world example of our vertical media strategy and ability to bring positive change, I am proud to announce here today that PBR has secured two CBS network broadcasts for rodeo coverage this year. 

In July, PBR will produce an hour of network coverage from the Days of ‘47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo and an hour from the Calgary Stampede. 

In addition, we will produce a daily update show following each round for CBS Sports Network from both events. That’s 15 new programs covering rodeo alone.

And RideTV will simulcast the RidePass coverage of rounds from the Days of ‘47 this year. You’ll be hearing a lot more news from and about RideTV in the coming months. 

RidePass will broadcast every minute of every performance from every rodeo we align with, live. And it is important to note, we are not just taking an arena feed and streaming it over the internet. We have trucks, and talent, and teams who will produce engaging programming and professional sports coverage from these iconic events.

Our recent efforts will result in more rodeo coverage and audience reach from just two great rodeo events this year than people have had access to -- in total-- over the last five.

And we’re just getting started.

We’ve entered into a multi-year agreement with CBS and CBS Sports Network and are working on a long-term agreement with RideTV. In 2019, we will put a minimum of four rodeos on network television, including coverage from WCRA-promoted events. 

Media accessibility is the most critical element of our plan to grow the rodeo fan base. You have to have phenomenal events in the right places, but as I always point out with PBR’s “media first” strategy, serve and entertain 10 to 20 thousand people a night at live events and 500,000 to 1.5 million with every broadcast.

You can’t just put any rodeo on network TV and expect it to deliver an audience. You need a great storyline and the stakes need to matter. 

WCRA is offering the magic number of $1 million dollars in prize money at all four of the major events.  The stakes are certainly high enough.

You need a highly credible competition platform that delivers the best contestants.

Offering the most money attracts the best contestants, and WCRA’s system and the semi-finals events will ensure that the cream rises to the top.  To be credible, it isn’t about who is the most popular, it has to be about who is the best on any given Sunday.

You need a format that makes great TV, especially if you have a one-hour network window. 

WCRA’s flexibility in embracing virtually any credible format makes that possible. We have to build a media-first strategy for rodeo that is not handcuffed by history.

You need to celebrate, recognize and build stars. 

WCRA and the PBR machine will work together to bring that to life in the sport of rodeo. Competition dictates who should be a star, media exposure makes them a star.

And, you need to know how to produce media content; if it’s world-class, that’s even better. PBR certainly has that covered.

As we successfully build a new, appreciative and passionate rodeo fan base through events, star development and media coverage, we will have something tangible to offer to corporate partners looking to market their products and services.

The WCRA mobile app and plans to use innovative technology to revolutionize an ages-old paradigm in rodeo are an extremely important component of the WCRA business plan.

The technology provides a one-click option on a mobile device or computer for contestants at aligned qualifying events to voluntarily and independently enter – or nominate as we prefer to call it – their run or ride for a share of the $6M in annual prize money WCRA is offering.

The nomination does not negatively affect entry fees for the event an athlete is competing in. It doesn’t require any processing or bookkeeping by the event secretary. And it is completely voluntary. In fact, we can offer the opportunity at any event that makes its results public, whether aligned or not.

The WCRA technology solution provides the platform for every ride to count, not just once, but twice.

I was talking the other day with someone in the industry and they were a little critical of the WCRA plan.  The context of the criticism was essentially that all WCRA was doing was creating a big jackpot system where entry fees were being “dragged” to offset the prize money that was being offered.

I had to laugh, because first of all, that is absolutely correct. For as long as anyone can remember, entry fees have been an integral part of rodeo and the entirety of western sports for that matter. Entry fees are the lifeblood of the industry. But every single event is a jackpot with some added money if the promoter can afford it.

But the really funny part was that it was coming from someone who had a $250 entry fee per discipline, per contestant, and they were then competing to get a share of $7,000 in total prize purse per discipline.

The cost of entries may change based on the business decisions, but WCRA is targeting an average of $100 to $150 per entry, which in turn provides a direct path to a $500,000 rodeo, with a direct path to a $1 million dollar rodeo.

And if a contestant can keep winning, it’s a direct path to taking home a share of $6 million dollars.

Lest anyone think that WCRA is just dragging prize money, the $500,000 and $1 million are guaranteed payouts, regardless of the nomination revenues generated.  We anticipate contestants will embrace the WCRA opportunity.

And, we once again have proof of concept with The American. Contestants are paying $500 for a shot at a share of $2 million in prize money. There are an estimated 3,500 to 4,000 entries for The American each year.

While I have spent most of the time talking very specifically about rodeo, the WCRA business plan is focused on all western sports.

There are roughly 200,000 total entries in professional rodeo between the PRCA and the IPRA.  Membership and entries have been in decline in professional rodeo.

There are roughly 750,000 total entries in the independent disciplines, driven largely by barrel racing, team roping and bull riding. The independent disciplines are thriving outside of rodeo. PBR, the World Series of Team Roping, NBHA and BBR are great examples of that.

The WCRA system is designed to offer a path for athletes of all levels -- at any credible western sports competition -- to nominate, compete and qualify for the semi-final events. The system is tiered to ensure competitive balance and the semi-final events will separate the best from the rest.

But the aspirations of a western sports athlete to compete for millions on a major stage is what has kept rodeo alive. WCRA is simply bringing technology innovation, a lower cost of entry, a higher return and a clear path to riches and recognition to an already well-established paradigm in rodeo: you have to pay to play.

As time passes and WCRA grows as a business, I expect that it will follow a similar path as the PBR. The athletes competing in our two top tours no longer pay entry fees. 

Since PBR’s inception 25 years ago, we have proudly paid out more than $180 million to bull riders. JB Mauney is the richest western sports athlete in history with over $7.2 million in prize money, not counting endorsements and other income earned from his fame as a PBR bull rider.

I am confident that 25 years from today, the individuals running PBR and WCRA will stand before an audience like you and announce that PBR has paid out more than $1 billion dollars in prize money to bull riders, and that WCRA is not far behind in payouts to rodeo contestants.

If you want the sport of rodeo – and the western lifestyle itself - to flourish, you should hope that we are successful.  Your support would be even better.

We appreciate everyone being here today, especially considering how the rodeo industry has been fractured, jaded and occasionally self-serving, which is somewhat understandable when everyone has had to fight for survival in the face of evaporating revenues.

But perpetuating that mentality won’t fix the problems --or rebuild a product that has so much potential and opportunity in today’s world.

The great athletes in the sport of rodeo deserve more and better opportunities.

I won’t pretend that we have all the answers. Or that we won’t make mistakes.

All we ask is for the industry to embrace an agent of positive change – one willing to invest in the future of rodeo with no intention of taking away opportunities from others, one with a plan backed by a proven track record for building western sports events, world class media and a new fan base now in every corner of America and five countries around the world.

The big question today is: how will the industry address its problems? Who will be the agent of positive change? And when will the industry begin the herculean task of reinvigorating America’s first sport?

The time is now, and we are that agent of change.

Communication is the first step to meaningful collaboration.

We can do it...together.