National Finals Rodeo promoter Las Vegas Events has "an offer on the table with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association to keep the prized event in Las Vegas" beyond '14, according to Alan Snel of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. Las Vegas Events President Pat Christenson said that the offer includes a $15M commitment, covering "everything from year-round marketing/promotions, event production and hotel accommodations for contestants to leasing a venue, providing Cowboy Christmas/Fanfest and free transportation for arena spectators for the 10-day Super Bowl of rodeos." Christenson said that the partnership, which runs through '14, was "last extended" in '07. Snel notes the NFR, which has been in Las Vegas for 29 years, has "attendance of 175,000 at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, which is sold out during the rodeo run." Christenson said, "The offer we made to them is higher than what they are getting now. It's not that we're saying, 'Re-up for what you're getting in the past.'" PRCA Senior PR Coordinator Jim Bainbridge said, "We're still in negotiations." Snel reports the Las Vegas Events offer was "made amid talk that Dallas and Oklahoma City would like to lure the event from Las Vegas." Christenson said that there "are 16,000 season tickets sold for this event -- and another 10,000 on a waiting list." He added that the proposed deal also allows for "both sides to consider using the new 20,000-seat arena being built by MGM Resorts and AEG on the Strip for the NFR." The new arena is scheduled to open in '16 (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 12/10).
