Published: December 08, 2007 10:29 am            

BRETT HOFFMAN: National Finals Rodeo can mean big bucks

The 49th National Finals Rodeo began its 10-day run Thursday night in Las Vegas where competitors can earn as much money in one performance as they often pocket after competing several times at most major regular-season rodeos.

The $5.5 million NFR consists of 10 performances and each round features the top 15 competitors in each event. Round winners in each event will receive $16,394.

That’s the kind of money that competitors earn after winning a big-time Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association show such as the Fort Worth Stock Show or the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming. Throughout the regular season, a $16,000 win is viewed as big hit for a cowboy who needs between $50,000 and $60,000 to earn an NFR berth.

“It’s neat to know that one good run at the NFR is like maxing out at Reno of Cheyenne,” said Kory Koontz of Sudan who has qualified in team roping since 1992. “I wish our regular season could be better so we could have more chances through the year to win big amounts. But as it is right now, the NFR is the best thing we’ve got.”

The regular season is comparable to putting a cattle truck into the lower gears and pulling out of the ranch. But the NFR is like shifting into high gear and rambling down the interstate.

Another number: The NFR average winners in each event will earn $42,043 on Dec. 15 for finishing with the best aggregate score or time after 10 rides.

A victory in the average is not all that far from what some competitors earn after competing in 50 to 75 regular-season rodeos in order to qualify for the NFR. The string of rodeos might range from the MDA Benefit Rodeo in Athens to the Amarillo Tri-State Fair Pro Rodeo to RodeoHouston. It also could easily include trips to faraway places in California, Wyoming and Alberta.

That means even the sport’s most successful competitors, including bareback rider Will Lowe of Canyon, steer wrestler Joey Bell Jr. of Malakoff, or tie-down roping qualifier Trevor Brazile of Decatur had to jump through a lot of loops during regular season to secure their NFR berths.

One example is most of the sport’s top competitors hung out in the northwestern United States in August and September, competing in towns such as Caldwell, Idaho, Puyallup, Wash., and Pendleton., Ore.

Koontz said a Texas cowboy might opt to stay in the northwestern states for several weeks and might fly home once just to check up on things.

And there’s Brittany Hofstetter, a Texas Tech senior from Portales, N.M., who entered five rodeos on each of the last two weeks of September. At the time, she was on the bubble as she attempted to qualify for the NFR.

She is competing in the championships for the first time after finishing the season ranked 14th in the barrel racing standings.

Every NFR performance has the potential to be unusually exciting because it features the top competitors and the sport’s best bucking stock. But the last day is always exciting because prize money is paid in both the 10th round and the average.

Just imagine if Koontz wins both the 10th round and the average; more than $58,000 would be added to his account on the night of Dec. 15. It might catapult the West Texas cowboy up several places in the world standings and might give him what the earnings he needs to secure a gold buckle.

For the past 11 months, the 2007 season has been walking and trotting along, but beginning tonight, it hits a fast gallop.

“At the NFR, you can let it all hang out and let your talent go,” Koontz said. “And if you do make a mistake, you’re not eliminated. You can come back the next night with another opportunity.”

Briefly

• Defending Professional Bull Riders world champion Justin McBride of Elk City, Okla. is expected to be sidelined for six months after undergoing surgery to repair extensive ligament damage and a rotator cuff tear on his left shoulder on Nov. 28 in Dallas.

• At the National Cutting Horse Association World Champion Futurity in Fort Worth, Special Nu Kitty and rider Clint Allen of Weatherford won the open division first round with a score of 227, believed to be the highest opening-round mark in 46 years of the Futurity. Allen is attempting to win the show’s $250,000 prize that will be awarded in the Dec. 16 finals.

• Carl Nafzger, who was raised in Olton, will be inducted next month into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in Fort Worth. He’s a three-time National Finals Rodeo bull riding qualifier in the 1960s and twice trained a Kentucky Derby winner, including this year’s winner Street Sense.

Brett Hoffman is a 20-year rodeo columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and a member of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. He can be reached at brett@myrodeoinsider.com.

        

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