04/28/08 Pro Rodeo League

The success of the PBR has proven there is lucrative audience for Western entertainment, So why isn't the Professional Cowboy rodeo's association prime time? I'm Jeff Keane and I will be back after the break with a new group that is using pro- football as a model for pro rodeo. Can rodeo become a major sport? Here is Susan Allen reporting on the concept of Team Rodeo. Truman Wright of Houston Texas is frustrated that sport of rodeo with it's roots about God. family and country is not able to capture a broader audience and he thinks its all due to marketing. According to Wright, interviewed last month in Spin to Win Rodeo Magazine, "the sport of rodeo is more deeply entrenched in this country than any other, having been here well before baseball, basketball and football." Wright contends that rodeo is simply missing the necessary fan base, so he is developing a Team Rodeo concept with drafts, teams, a season lasting 20 weeks, playoffs cumulating with the ultimate Super rodeo championship game. The best part for the cowboys and cowgirls are guaranteed salaries with benefits. So do you think it will work Jeff? I heard it will take over seventy five million dollars to create but like Wright said "if one team can pay David Beckham over 30 million dollars to kick a soccer ball in in a sport that doesn't have the exposure or history in our country that rodeo does, then for someone to say a rodeo league can't succeed is naïve."