How Digital Media and Broadcasting Has Brought Rodeo to a New Generation

Joining me now is one of the people leading that shift for digital and rodeo, Paul Woody, the VP of business development for the PRCA, better known as the Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association. Paul, it's wonderful to have you on the show today. I appreciate you reaching out and giving us an opportunity to tell our story and talk about why rodeo and improving the number of eyeballs and, people that that wanna be excited about rodeo. It's an important endeavor that we're trying to trying to latch onto. The excitement around scripted television and all of the people that are excited about things like Yellowstone, and you know some people would say The Mandalorian is a space western. Those are things that we are excited about and everybody that's involved with rodeo is passionate about it, and we don't necessarily get to tell our story as often as we like to. So thanks for reaching out and giving us an opportunity to talk to you. Well, this is this is the merging of my worlds, both the AV and the technical side and, the rodeo and a little bit more rural side. It feels like sometimes they don't always blend together, but, you know, you guys have done a great job really introducing rodeo into the newer communities especially in the digital in especially in the digital space and, you know, really since the the sixteenth century rodeo has been a part of Americana. Right? But as it's evolved over the years and over the centuries, you know, what are some of the ways that you've seen rodeo really grow to new and localized audiences but all the way to a more widespread audience even in an international audience? You know, I kind of liken it to the first marathon when that happened in Greece and it was something that was actually a real world application. Rodeo was derived out of an actual everyday ranching activities, and you see that, and those that know know, and those that don't just think that we're out there doing things on Bronx and, with with these calves. But, no, it's a real world real world application, and the people that live it and are around it love to see the guys and gals perform it at the highest level. And so as as as we talked about with scripted television and more people getting excited about it, and there's been this movement. You can see it in real estate. You can see it in, in the movement. Some people are leaving the cities and they want land and they want space and they want to do these things, and so all of a sudden they start looking and they say, well what's this rodeo life about and what do they do, and why do they do it? And so they're they're they're learning, and they're searching, and they're finding out why we do these things. And so there's more people watching. And you see what happened in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, rodeo attendance was never larger. Every one of our rodeos that was hosted in twenty twenty one, reached attendance highs that they had never had since their inception. And and the PRCA is made up of seven hundred rodeo committees across the country, and every one of those is operating independently. They use the resources from the association to put on the best show that is their flag waving pinnacle of the year in their communities. You know, you look at it and there's parades and there is a celebration of what makes their town special. And so seven hundred rodeos take place across the country, somebody will watch TV, they'll see Cheyenne Frontier Days or Rodeo Houston, and then all of a sudden they realize, well I have a rodeo in my own city. And so that's why it's important for us to understand that our top ten flagship rodeos that take place across the country are very important to us, but they're important because they are developing new fans who then go and attend a local rodeo which is important to their local community. Well, you kinda hit on the archetype that is me a little bit. Right? Kinda raised in city life but really, moved outside to outside of the suburbs a little bit more. But, you know, one of the things that's attractive about a lot of these rodeos is they're not really as you would expect them to be live. Right? There's lights, there's pyro, there's sound and rock music and you know all kinds of stuff happening. You know, is that a is that a newer, really innovation for rodeo or is that something really that's been happening for, you know, forty fifty years? Yes and yes. No two rodeos are the same, and so there are some rodeos that are incredibly traditional that you will not find pyrotechnics and loud music. It is about the pure aspect of rodeo competition. And then there are other rodeos, Rodeo Houston just down the interstate, who have figured out that you can have twenty days of A list performances, and people will come to watch this artist, and by the way there's a two hour rodeo before the concert ever starts, and so that's an entertainment piece. Cheyenne Frontier Days is the same way. Their rodeo takes place at noon, and then there's a concert every night, and so it's about the entertainment. But again, we can't emphasize enough that every one of these rodeos is the event for a community. And and that's why when we look at our at our fan base, we look at our consumers, they're in the c and d counties. And right now those c and d counties feel like, not necessarily under attack, but but they feel like we have to make sure that everybody knows that we are proud to live where we are. And so every one of these events gives them an opportunity to show off their their local talents, have a lot of fun, and and that's that's why it's important for us to support and give resources, you know, professional level resources like any any professional league or any professional association should be giving to all of these local teams that are making us look good to be honest. Well, you talked about the yellowstones of the world and you know there there is a national appeal to, we'll call it a localized and and kind of home feeling, you know, ranch lifestyle. Right? And I think that that is kind of exemplified it kind of switching gears into the broadcast side. Right? That's it feels like that's why, you know, you're seeing, you know, pro rodeo. You're seeing a number of different westerns and things really on TV drawing big audiences. Right? It's it's something that is that has gone from a largely localized effort to something that's now expounded to the masses on ESPN. Right? So we for years the PRCA was the NFR, and that was all we were. And the NFR, the National Finals Rodeo, is ten days, the the penultimate of of our sport in Las Vegas, since nineteen eighty five, and it is a a the place to be the place to be seen, and that's who we were. Well, rodeo is a year round sport, and sometimes you would be able to tune in on CBS Sports Network or some of our prior media partners and you were able to find a rodeo, but it was sporadic. There was no appointment television, there was no way that if you wanted to see rodeo you always knew you were going to be able to find it. So fast forward two years ago, we made the decision, the difficult decision to come off of a more widely known television network and partner with Rural Media Group, who was investing for the last twenty years a ton into the rural lifestyle with RFD TV and they founded this new television channel called the Cowboy Channel. And their dream and our dream was to be able to see rodeo three sixty five days a year. And we have rodeos taking place almost three sixty five days out of the year. And so we found a media partner who was willing to invest in us, invest in the lifestyle, and showcase how proud we are to be the rodeo lifestyle. And so now you can on a Tuesday night in the summer, you know, we advertise, they advertise a hundred rodeos in a hundred days over the summer. And that is really cool for somebody sitting in Fort Worth, Texas or somebody sitting in in any number of cities to be able to turn on their television or pull up their app and be able to see what it's like to be at the Dodge City rodeo or to be in Reno or to be in any of these places. And like I said, none of them are the exact same, and so they get to have a flavor of what rodeo is across the country. Northwest rodeos are totally different than Texas rodeos. Texas rodeos are different from the California circuit. They're all unique and different, and so to have the opportunity for somebody to be able to see that is important and and right now we're seeing a big upswing in people that are paying attention and wanting to be involved with rodeo. Well you mentioned, you know, you guys having the app and obviously access to the cowboy channel and RFD TV. You know, pulling that off of the TV screen and onto the mobile screen is is one of the things that I think specifically the PRCA has done a great job of. Right? Not only on the the rodeo delivery side, but also the the side of engaging the community through, you some social tools, things like that. But also telling the stories, in a new way of some of the cowboys, and some of the riders that that otherwise wouldn't have been told. Absolutely. It it's talk about making people uncomfortable in the rodeo space. You start talking about the cell phones, you start talking about how and why someone should be bragging on their social feed. Those are things that make people who have done rodeo for a long time very uncomfortable, but through success stories, it's it's been a positive turn. We have almost two million followers now through our association channels, and you see the impact and the number of impressions and the number of engagements that we've had over the years, and it's turning into real, real impactful resource you know, real impactful finances to the association. But it's hard. Some of our guys some of our guys are incredibly genuine, authentically good people, but they're very private. And they they are private because they were raised up, you know, from their their daddy or their mom who said, you don't brag. You don't let other people know what you've what what successes you've had. You know, they want to reach out and help other people. They don't wanna reach out and say, look at me. And so it's it's finding and embracing, you know, we have six thousand members in the PRCA, and some of our top athletes are exactly that, incredibly private, humble individuals. Others of them have gotten it, and and you've seen a larger presence, from from some of our athletes, and and those are the people that we're trying to embrace. And and, a rising tide lifts all ships. If we can get some of our our guys and gals to be household names, it's gonna be good for the sport. And, so we're trying. We're we're we need to figure out how to put our people on the front page of newspapers. I think there's still newspapers out there. At least in Dallas there are. Right. You know, front page of newspapers, put them on, you know, there's no reason that a world champion, I mean Stetson Wright is one of the most amazing athletes in the world right now, and what he's doing is amazing in two sports in our two disciplines in our sport. Casey Field who just just broke records at the last ten FR and and came from behind to won the world championship. Sage Kimsey, you know, his his seven world titles is is people are going to struggle to ever meet these thresholds that these athletes are hitting right now. And then you talk about our, you know, our equal pay for all genders. You talk about what a barrel racer can earn in pro rodeo is the exact same that any of the male athletes can earn. And you look at how we promote any athlete in our sport, gender does not matter. And it it's that is important, but nobody understands that rodeo truly is an equal playing field for all participants. And so those are the stories and that's what we're trying to do. And our digital footprint and the way that we're doing it through the Cowboy Channel Plus app and through, RMG and their resources is is incredibly important. Well, you mentioned a lot of the challenges that you guys facing are facing specifically in terms of building athletes profile. It really isn't unique to rodeo specifically. Right? The NBA, the NFL, guys like that are having the same type of challenges and one of the things that they're actually doing is they're doubling down obviously on the individual but the analytics side as well. There's an entirely new way to interact with the sport with the athletes by bringing in some of the analytics. Right? What is the PRCA doing to, bring in some of those newer tools, to the rodeo community? You know, the the that's a chicken and the egg question. You can't get the analytics without investing first, and you can't invest in it until you know what you can get out of it. And so we're we're kind of in a standoff and and trying to figure out where do we invest, how do we invest. You'll see through our website now, through pro rodeo dot com, you can go and search for an athlete and it's uploading all year long their best rides or their best runs. Talk about something that would have blown away somebody five years ago, ten years ago in our sport, so you can go and select your favorite athlete and see their their best runs. Well then you sit there and you say, well the livestock. You know in the sport of rodeo fifty percent of the score comes from the livestock, fifty percent of the score comes from the the human athlete. So it's it's the animal athletes that we're trying to figure out, well what tendencies do they have? How do we measure? And so we have years and years of data that may or may not be accurate sometimes, but we can dump it in and we can say, well this bull has a thirteen percent ride probability. Okay. Well what about this bronc, you know, saddle bronc or or bareback has a has a higher likelihood of being, having a successful ride, And so what does that bronc do well? Are they have they grown over their five year career? I mean some of these broncs have twenty year careers with us. Some of them burn hot and fast and then nobody wants to get on them anymore. But those are the types of things that are helping us figure out what makes an animal more valuable to the sport, and so we're investing into the animals. How do we invest into these breeding programs for our livestock contractors? You know, there's a limited number of stock contractors in the PRCA who are qualified to bring livestock to our events. Why is it important to us have qualified livestock? Well, because we know and we can trust that these stock contractors treat their animals in the best way, and that they are bringing the highest quality stock. And the way that they're breeding them is natural, and it's you know, they're treated with the best, and all these different things that are buzzwords and important to our efforts, but that all goes back to you can't make those decisions without the data. So we start trying to figure out how do we mine the data, where do we, you know, what things are we going to use to to come up with with equations to to make those decisions. Ironically, that naturally kinda leads into my next question, about sports betting. Right? As analytics improve, in theory, the odds improve. In theory, also driving more engagement to the sport. You know, as the NFL and, you know, the NBA and organizations like that have invested into, sports betting partnerships, they've seen growth. It's a different level of engagement for a number of different reasons. It creates extra buy in from, the fan. You know, is that something that the PRCA, has looked into? Is that something that we can expect in the near future? It's something that we, have a healthy we have a healthy appetite for if we can do it the right way. When you talk about animal athletes and you talk about fifty percent of the score coming from that, gaming control boards end up having a healthy amount of interest in it as well to figure out if someone can or cannot influence the potential outcome and then thereby gaining or gaming the the process. And so that's something we have to figure out. So then you look at, okay, well, all of these states have now legalized gaming, all got their start in fantasy gaming. And so you start saying, okay, for the sport of rodeo, what does fantasy gaming look like? And so we start saying, well, do you set lineups, and do you do three bronc riders against three bronc riders? And you're trying to figure out A versus B versus C versus D in your rank order. And so those are the types of things we're looking at. We have, we're close to the finish line on a a app that will be available to the public, but there's reputational risk involved with that. If you go and you develop and you put something out to the market without fully vetting it and make sure that the user experience is is going to be satisfactory, make sure that people don't feel that they've been taken advantage of, make sure that people have an actual belief in that they can win, then then our risk you know, our reputation would be at risk. And so those are the internal conversations that we've had. And look, I've I've said it or alluded to it several times, the cowboy way of doing things is methodical and slow. Most of the time that has served our lifestyle well. Until you look and you're getting passed on the left and you're getting passed on the right on certain things. And so that's what we're trying to figure out is, okay, is the risk measured out to the reward that we think we should receive by doing this? But you'll see it, we will launch it and figure out how we can get folks watching rodeo on the couches at home engaged. It's not necessarily about the folks sitting in the arenas who are already engaged and listening to the music, or you got the barrel man, or you got the dress act, or you got all these different elements that go into putting on a rodeo, they are more engaged than folks who go to a basketball game, or baseball game, or football game because it's a show, and it's a two, three, four hour show. But for for you and I who don't travel and go to seven hundred rodeos, I wanna get that extra little juice, and I wanna figure out who's gonna win this next this next run. That those are the types of people that that are going to help us engage and grow the sport organically through these folks that wanna have a financial risk involved with watching our sport. Look. If if I say nothing else, the fact that you guys can pull off a show ten days in a row in Las Vegas means there's an appetite for it. So I'll I'll push for it. I love, I love the direction really that you guys are going with that. But, you know, Paul, I appreciate the great work that you guys are doing over at the PRCA to really invest, in the rodeo community. Right? To bring it to the next generation, to find ways to engage, those communities really outside of a of a lot of the localized and traditional ways. And, you know, personally giving you my thanks. I'm very appreciative for it and I know all the the AV nerds out there listening to this right now who are like, I might go check out a rodeo and go watch some of these, these acts happen down the street. I know, from them I I could give you a big thank you as well but, best wishes for the upcoming year. I'll be at NFR again probably not all ten days. I don't know if I can get that much time off but, we'll be up there for sure and looking forward to really seeing what's next for you guys. I I appreciate it and like I said, anytime we get to talk to somebody who doesn't know about rodeo is a welcome opportunity. And, yeah, if you ever look in your local newspaper or read your local Facebook pages and you find out there's a rodeo there, I guarantee nine out of ten times it's a PRCA sanctioned event, and I'll stand beside it that you're gonna have a great time going to it and drinking some beer and having a fun time. Well, Paul, we appreciate you. Thanks for coming on the show. Thank you. Appreciate it.