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The National Finals Rodeo (NFR) is the culminating game of the professional Rodeo season. NFR has become very popular among sports folks because of its peculiarity in assembling top professional Rodeo players from various parts of the world in 10 days of Cowboy games galore.

Over the years, NFR has accommodated the best Rodeo players, Cowboys, and livestock across the globe. Professional Cowboys, women, and lovers of the game are always excited about the games and the fun therein. There is no doubt that NFR is the prestigious premier Rodeo, and it offers the highest financial benefit.

Who are the participants?

The final championship of the National Rodeo games, popularly known as National Finals Rodeo (NFR) is the climax of the Rodeo games.

NFR features the top 15 contestants from all of the professional Rodeo games played throughout the season.

Standard Rodeo events are scintillating games which are contested by members of the professional Rodeo Cowboys association and women’s professional Rodeo Association. Professional Rodeo players engage themselves in season-long Rodeo events such as Bareback riding, steer wrestling, header and heelers team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, bull riding, etc. In the end, the top 15 contestants qualify from each of the games as finalists during Rodeo Finals.

The selection and qualification are based on the amount of money won during the regular season championship and the playoff of the Justin Boots. As for the Bull Riders, the highest-earning players are usually selected during the PRCA Extreme Bulls Tour, and they all lock horns during the NFR.

Who emerges the winner?

The overall winner of the professional Rodeo games usually emerges at the end of the NFR championship. The emergence of the overall winner is determined after a cumulation of the total amount earned within the year. The amount received during the regular season is added to the amount won during the NFR championship.

The NFR championship is non-stop for ten days with ten rounds of games. The winners of the match are adjudged in two ways: the average winners and the direct winners. The immediate winners are those that clinch the first position to the sixth position in each of the rounds and they earn directly after each round.

The average winners emerge from the cumulation of the performances through the ten rounds, and the eighth top winners earn more money. Two winners usually emerge at the end of every NFR championship – the average winner and the world champion.

The average winner is the Cowboy or barrel racer who amassed the best time or the highest cumulative score throughout the ten rounds while the world champion is the Cowboy or the barrel racer who garnered the highest monetary benefit during the NFR championship.

Where & When is NFR held?

NFR began in 1985 and has waxed stronger year after year. The NFR games hold from 5th of December to 14th of December at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. National Football Rodeo (NFR) has over the years mesmerized occupants of the host city, Las Vegas with exciting Cowboy flair.

A plethora of occupants of Las Vegas, Cowboys, and lovers of the Rodeo games all troop into Las Vegas with Cowboy hats to have a feel of the exciting games. Las Vegas is synonymous with entertainment, and the NFR has maintained the tempo for the past 34 years.

It is less than a month to the commencement of the 35th National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas. Almost 200,000 Western lifestyle lovers comprising of Cowboys, Cowgirls, and Fans of the Rodeo game are expected to attend the 10-day event from 5th December to 14th December. The city of Las Vegas is pregnant with alluring rodeo activities, Cowboy Christmas, and booming entertainment. Traffic jams, foodie rush, and hike in prices of Hotel accommodation are imminent. Thomas & Mack center, the venue of the NFR championship is almost 2 miles away from the Las Vegas strip.

Prices of Hotel rooms have already leapt. The price of Hotel accommodation in Las Vegas has skyrocketed. Not only applicable in hotels on the strip, but the high-rising cost of hotel accommodation has also spread to the midlands of Las Vegas.

A review of prices on Hotels.com shows that the cost of a hotel room on 7th December is thrice higher than the cost of Hotel rooms on 21st December when NFR events would have ended.

Review of Hotels.com shows that the cost of hotel accommodation in hotels close to the Las Vegas strip and the event center is as high as $135 on 7th December, but the same Hotel is listed to charge $29 for the same room after the conclusion of the Wrangler NFR.

A casino operator stated that the hike in hotel prices in Las Vegas could be traced to the demand-supply relationship. According to OYO Hotel manager and Casino expert, Tim Kuykendall, ”Las Vegas is such a dynamic market that continues to grow. When we have major events in the city, the demand for rooms creates compression and drives room rates throughout the city.”

He is of the expectation that all the 657 rooms in the OYO Hotel will be booked before the commencement of the NFR 2019. This is also applicable to other hotels in the neighborhood.

The hinterlands and the valley region of Las Vegas are not left out in this upward trend in the price of Hotel accommodation. A swift look at the price list of the MGM Grand Hotel indicates that $288 will be charged for a night stay in one room on 7th December. A Night stay in the same room will cost $67 on 21st December. As for Harrah Hotel, a room will go for $155 on 7th December, but by 21st December, the cost will reduce drastically to $39.

Other Hotels with casino facilities have been fully booked. All 2,163 rooms in South point were fully accommodated during the penultimate wrangler NFR championship. $119 was the price for one night stay during the weekdays while $159 was the price during weekends. This year would not be an exception.

South point hotels are one of the numerous sponsors of the Rodeo game, and they usually accrue massive patronage during the NFR championship. It serves as a lodge for Myriads of rodeo fans and top cowboy stars. Other events of the NFR such as Gold carpet reception, NFR Bucking Horse and Bull sale are hosted there.

The General manager of South point, Ryan Growney admits that the NFR championship period always marks the busiest period for them.

Wrapping up:

It was in 1985 when Las Vegas became the hub of the wrangler NFR championship. It is quite apparent that the Status quo will be maintained until 2024. A statistical overview of 2018 NFR shows that a total of 169,171 attendees witnessed the concerts, intrigues, games, and all-round entertainment.

The CBS continues as the official broadcasting channel for the NFR while the online streaming will be live on ProRodeoTV.com. Just like previous editions, the 2019 Wrangler NFR championship will have ten rounds and will run for ten days.

Bareback horse riding is the sister event to the bull riding event. Both are extremely similar and most people think that bull riding is a lot more dangerous than bareback riding when in reality bareback riding is the most dangerous event in all of the rodeo. Bareback riders suffer the most injuries and have the most long-term damage of all the cowboys. The National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas will feature bareback riding for 10 straight thrilling nights from December 5th to the 14th.

Let’s go over the basics of bareback riding for those who have never watched the event before. The event is similar to bull riding as the goal of the event is to stay atop the animal for as long as possible. The rider has to hold onto a rigging made of leather that is placed on top of the horse that resembles a suitcase handle. When the event start the horse will come out of the gate and the rider must have both spurs touching the horse’s shoulders until the horse’s feet hit the ground after the initial move from the chute. If the rider does not he will be disqualified.

The riders are also judged on their spurring technique as well as how long they can stay on their horse. The technique that is graded is the degree to which his toes remain turned out while he is spurring and his willingness to take whatever might come during his ride. This makes barebacking not just a strength event but a technical event as well.

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Tim O’Connell is expected to take home his 3rd world championship in a row. He has won a lot this season but the gap between first and second this year is not as large as it has been the past couple of years so there is a chance that the number two spot will take home the title. O’Connell broke the $1 million dollar career mark this year already at the age of 26, he is set to turn 27 on October 24th and he has already accomplished a great deal that he set out to do.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in. That was such a blessing to go out and accomplish a lifetime goal. But the next season starts right away, so there’s not much time to let it sink in,” O’Connell said. “It was hard to re-motivate. Where do you go from there? I did a lot of praying, talked to my mentors, me and my wife talked a lot about getting refocused.”

O’Connell has slipped a little this season and it will be interesting to see if he can continue his dominance in a sport that rarely has a repeat champion.

Caleb Bennett has been a contender as well this season finishing just $15,000 behind O’Connell. The 29-year-old has had the best season of his career and he has been a part of the PRCA since 2007. He finished 6th overall in the world last season and he just crossed the $1 million dollar mark for his career earnings in the last couple of months. Look out for Bennett to seriously contend in Las Vegas come December as he tries to unseat the two-time world champion.

Clayton Biglow also has a good shot at the world title this year. He was the PRCA rookie of the year back in 2016 in bareback riding. He is only 22 years old and the fact that he has made 3 straight NFR is incredibly impressive and the future is in his hands. He could easily contend for the world championship this December and he will be a figure in riding bareback for a long time.

Related Content: Top 15 Steer Wrestlers in the WNFR 2019

Bareback riding is one of the premier events at the NFR and fans are always thrilled to watch the exciting event. Make sure that you do not miss out on one night of the WNFR from December 5th to the 14th where there will be bareback riding every single night.

The Top 15 Bareback Riders in the 2019 National Finals Rodeo:

1          Tim O’Connell
2          Caleb Bennett
3          Clayton Biglow
4          Orin Larsen
5          Bill Tutor
6          Richmond Champion
7          Kaycee Feild
8          Steven Dent
9          Jake Brown
10        Mason Clements
11        Tilden Hooper
12        Ty Breuer
13        Shane O’Connell
14        J.R. Vezain
15        Wyatt Denny

Steer Wrestling is an incredibly intense and risky event at the 2019 National Finals Rodeo. The event will occur every single night at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas from December 5th to the 14th. Steer wrestlers have to try and tackle a steer while they are both traveling at over 30 miles per hour which makes for an exciting spectacle.

Let’s go over the basics of steer wrestling for those of us who have never watched the event before. The objective of the event is to try and wrestle the steer to the ground by the cowboy, also known as the bulldogger. The event starts off by the steer being released into the arena and getting a head start on the rider. The rider is let free when the steer gets a predetermined head start based on the size of the arena. The rider then has to ride up alongside the left side of the steer and then he has to begin to slide off the right side of his horse.

While he is sliding off the side of his horse he has to grab both horns of the steer and attempt to wrestle the beast down to the ground. The steer must be on its side with all four of its feet pointing in the same direction for the time to stop. In addition to the rider, there is another horseman called the hazer that rides alongside the steer to stop the steer from veering away from the bulldogger. His role is extremely important and they usually receive one-fourth of the pay that the bulldogger receives.

Curtis Cassidy is the current leader at the top of the PRCA standings for steer wrestlers and he has been steer wrestling longer than a lot of people have been alive. Cassidy first joined the PRCA in 1998 but he was steer wrestling up in Canada for 11 years prior to joining the PRCA and he was the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association Rookie of the Year in 1987. Cassidy has never won a world title but has been very competitive in the PRCA and he has been to the National Finals Rodeo 5 times.

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Cassidy could have more appearances but he is very dedicated to the CPRA and chooses the Canadian events over the American events many times as his dad was the President of the CPRA and his mother was the secretary at one point. Cassidy is going to have a great shot at his first ever world title and he will make every Canadian proud by being one of the few Canadian cowboys to win a PRCA world title. Cassidy was inducted into the Canadian rodeo hall of fame

Tyler Pearson is having one of his best years in his career so far. The 33-year-old has really come into his own over the last couple of seasons and has qualified for the National Finals Rodeo twice in a row now. He will have a great chance at the world title and could easily overtake Cassidy in the rankings and take home his first ever world championship.

Scott Guenthner is a young up and comer in the world of steer wrestling. He just turned 27 this year and he qualified for his second National Finals Rodeo in a row and is quickly becoming one of the best wrestlers in the game. He finished 7th in the standings last year and is currently in 3rd so he should have his best finish ever and he also has a great chance at taking home the world title.

Steer Wrestling is one of the most entertaining events at the National Finals Rodeo and it will continue to be a part of the rodeo circuit for years to come. The competition in Las Vegas is something that you do not want to miss out on as this year should be extremely close and there are many different wrestlers that can take home the title. Make sure that you tune in every night from December 5th to the 14th to check out all of the great events at the National Finals Rodeo.

The Top 15 Steer Wrestlers in the 2019 National Finals Rodeo:

1          Curtis Cassidy
2          Tyler Pearson
3          Scott Guenthner
4          Ty Erickson
5          Will Lummus
6          Tanner Brunner
7          Hunter Cure
8          Bridger Chambers
9          Jacob Talley
10        Tyler Waguespack
11        Blake Mindemann
12        Riley Duvall
13        Blake Knowles
14        Kyle Irwin
15        Nick Guy