Though a formal announcement “likely won’t be made until January at the earliest, expect a lengthy contract keeping" the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas "for several years" beginning in ’14, according to John Katsilometes of the LAS VEGAS SUN. Those who have “negotiated the deal are not specifying the terms just yet, but concerns that the rodeo might bug out of Las Vegas after 2014 can be allayed.” This year’s NFR “begins tonight and runs through Dec. 15.” The current 10-year contract that the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, the rodeo’s sanctioning body, holds with Las Vegas Events “times out after the 2014 event.” PRCA and Las Vegas officials have “never allowed a contract to expire.” PRCA Commissioner Karl Stressman last week said, “We have a great relationship with Las Vegas. To look at the NFR and to see how successful it has been out there, you ask, ‘Would it be foolish to end it?’ It would absolutely be silly.” Talks about renewing the contract “began in earnest last fall, when Stressman and PRCA chairman Keith Martin traveled to Las Vegas to begin discussions with” NFR Committee member and South Point Hotel Casino & Spa Owner Michael Gaughan and Las Vegas Events reps. The '10 opening of Cowboys Stadium “brought what was perceived to be daunting competition for the NFR.” But while Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones has “entertained Professional Bull Riders events at Cowboys Stadium, and there have been exploratory discussions about how the NFR might play out at Cowboys Stadium," Jones "would never book a rodeo during the NFL season” (LAS VEGAS SUN, 12/6).
