Up to 14,000 fans are expected to attend the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at Arlington's Globe Life Field each night over the next ten days. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's largest event begins Thursday.
PRCA moved the event to Globe Life Field from Las Vegas because of limits on crowd sizes set by the state of Nevada. The event had been held in Las Vegas each year since 1985.
"To use a really bad pun, this is our first rodeo. No pressure in starting out with your first rodeo being the biggest rodeo of them all," says Sean Decker, the Texas Rangers executive vice president of sports entertainment. "But we couldn't be more thrilled for the opportunity. The good news is we didn't have to know rodeo. Our partners at the PRCA came in, they know the rodeo business. We know how to operate the building. It's been a terrific marriage from the start."
"Globe Life Field worked very closely with Major League Baseball and then with us," says PRCA Chief Executive George Taylor. "For the fans, they're really handling those safety protocols in the exact same way. I think one of the safest places you can be in Arlington will be in this ballpark because of all the disinfecting we're doing, the pods of four we're utilizing in keeping everyone socially distanced."
Decker says the Rangers have been communicating with the Arlington Fire Department and the Arlington, Tarrant County and state health departments daily on protocols to follow.
Tickets were sold in pods of four, and groups of fans will be separated in the stands. Fans will be required to wear masks in the ballpark except while eating or drinking. Decker says hand sanitizing and hand washing stations were added throughout the ballpark.
A list of precautions is available at www.arlington.org/events/nfr/.
"Thankfully, we think we have a blueprint," he says. "We've done close to a hundred events at this building between the high school graduations, Major League Baseball games, Major League postseason, the World Series. We've got an opportunity to work hand-in-hand with the city, the county, the state."
Events surrounding the rodeo will take place in Arlington and Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Sports Commission says 26,000 hotel rooms have been booked across the area as a result of the rodeo.
"You want to start going. The cowboys are ready. We're ready. I think the community's ready," Taylor says. "We're thrilled to have the opportunity, and it's very exciting to be here."
"Things sure made making our living a lot tougher this year," says Wyatt Casper, a cowboy from Balko, Oklahoma. "We were going to a lot of different rodeos than we normally do just because they were the only ones going on. I put on more miles going to fewer rodeos this year than I ever have. That's been tough on everybody, travel-wise and with expenses."
Casper won the American at AT&T Stadium in March.
"We're just thankful they're having this. This is what we work all year for. I've been nervous the last couple weeks, but coming down here and stepping into the stadium, it reminds me a lot of AT&T Stadium. We were pretty successful there this year, and we're going to try to bring all that here," he says.
In addition to the rodeo at Globe Life Field, Cowboy Christmas will be taking place at the Fort Worth Convention Center. The junior rodeo will take place at Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth Stockyards. Masks will be required at Cowboy Christmas, and exhibitors at Cowboy Christmas will be required to have hand sanitizer at their booth. Safety protocols at Cowboy Christmas are available here.
