thedrifter
06-29-03, 11:00 AM
Rodeo proves a good sell
The Marines are looking for a few good men and women and figure they can find them under a cowboy hat.
The sport of rodeo — billed as the original extreme sport — is gaining popularity in mainstream America, particularly with the 18- to 34-year-old crowd.
While other sports, including golf tournaments such as the Reno-Tahoe Open, are struggling to find title sponsors, rodeo is starting to attract attention from a variety of corporate entities outside its traditional boots, hats, buckles, jeans and tobacco sponsors.
In the past six weeks, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association has signed an expanded sponsorship deal with Pace Foods, a division of Campbell Soup Co., and reached a deal with CBS that will put the sport back on network television for the first time in decades. It already is televised on cable TV’s Outdoor Life Network and ESPN.
Such agreements reflect the emergence of rodeo into the mainstream.
“These are really huge for us,” said PRCA Commissioner Steve Hatchell. “It’s been 40-plus years, maybe 50-plus years since rodeo has been on network television. We’ve got a new mega-sponsor, which is a highly recognized packaged product that is part of Campbell’s Soup, which is as good as it gets.”
“All we want to do is jump up and down.”
Since Hatchell took over as the PRCA’s commissioner, television coverage has expanded from 46 hours in 1998 to 211 hours this year. Sponsorships have more than doubled in the same time period, according to Steve Rempelos, executive vice president of PRCA Properties.
“We’re light years ahead of where we’ve been,” Rempelos said.
According to Scarborough Research Data, rodeo is either at or above the national average for sporting events in terms of who is watching and attending its events.
Here are some numbers from the 2002 Scarborough report:
o Rodeo fans are split 50-50 between men and women;
o 12 percent of fans are 18-24 (right at the national average);
o 22 percent are 25-34 (18 percent above the national average);
o 39 percent are 35-49 (24 percent above the national average).
Advertisers, such as the Marine Corps and Kawasaki, see those demographics as a way to reach a target audience, specifically, young outdoor enthusiasts.
“The appeal to the Marines and Kawasaki and several other companies is in a geographical sense,” Rempelos said. “The pull that rodeo has west of the Mississippi and the young audience that it draws, we’re able to deliver their message to a target core in a way that is uncluttered.”
While the sport is attracting new sponsors, it isn’t losing its old ones either.
“We’re expanding in a classic way,” Hatchell said. “Our old partners are meeting up with our new corporate partners and we’ve just got a great relationship.”
Hatchell also has expanded the sport itself, introducing the ProRodeo Tours, of which Pace has signed on as the title sponsor; and a bull-riding-only tour known as Xtreme Bulls, of which ESPN is the main backer.
That expansion has not come without difficulties.
The Tours — one summer and one winter — have their own standings and the Xtreme Bulls has its own standings, but the money won at all the events count in the regular-season rodeo standings, which determine the participants who qualify for the season-ending National Finals Rodeo.
“The Tour has totally baffled the people because they can’t figure out the difference between the Tour, the Jack Daniel’s standings and the actual rodeo,” said PRCA announcer Bob Tallman. “People come to Reno to watch them buck and watch them ride and rope. As fast as we run each performance, I don’t have time to give them a lesson every night.”
“I’m in support of what Commissioner Hatchell is trying to do,” Tallman added. “We haven’t created continuity yet in production, television, management and end results. I think it’s going to take a couple years to get it done. It’s a very transitional year and it’s very difficult in that transition to get everybody to agree let alone to follow suit and try to make it happen. We’ve got a lot of chiefs. We need more indians.”
Eight-time world champion bull rider Don Gay, who works as the color commentator for ESPN’s broadcasts of the Xtreme Bulls events, agrees with Tallman.
“I like some of the things our commissioner is doing,” Gay said. “He’s moving ahead. Are we going in the right direction? Who knows. We’ll have to wait and see.”
The network television deal with CBS has the attention of everyone inside the sport — and potential advertisers outside it. The PRCA pays CBS for the air time and then sells advertising to recoup its costs. Still, it’s a major step just getting the attention of one of the major networks.
“CBS won’t just sell time to anybody to create a show,” Rempelos said. “There has to be a rhyme or reason for them to do it. If they’re not having an increase in ratings or holding their own in that time slot, they’re not going to keep a show on the air. In our case, we’re going to have to prove ourselves with viable viewership numbers.”
If those numbers hold up, then one of the networks may offer to take up some of the production costs.
An example is the Arena Football League, which this year ended up splitting costs 50-50 with NBC to air its games.
Gay thinks it will be good to return the sport to network television.
“If we can afford it financially, which obviously our management thinks we can or they wouldn’t have done it, I believe it’s good for all of America to be able to turn it on.”
In past years, rodeo cowboys have had limited exposure to a national audience. ProRodeo Hall of Famer Jim Shoulders used to appear in the Miller Light Beer commercials and six-time world all-around champion Larry Mahan had some successful crossover appeal during the 1970s and ’80s. More recently, bull fighter Joe Baumgartner was featured in a Coors Original advertising campaign that featured other sports legends such as Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
Many of the cowboys see a bright future ahead.
“I think things are really going in the right direction,” said 41-year-old bareback rider Clint Corey, the 1991 world champion. “I’m not sure that I’ll be around long enough to enjoy the end result of all this, but I think it’s definitely good for the sport.”
Hatchell agreed:
“We still have a lot of work to do, but I think we’re moving in the right direction,” he said.
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/06/27/45678.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
The Marines are looking for a few good men and women and figure they can find them under a cowboy hat.
The sport of rodeo — billed as the original extreme sport — is gaining popularity in mainstream America, particularly with the 18- to 34-year-old crowd.
While other sports, including golf tournaments such as the Reno-Tahoe Open, are struggling to find title sponsors, rodeo is starting to attract attention from a variety of corporate entities outside its traditional boots, hats, buckles, jeans and tobacco sponsors.
In the past six weeks, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association has signed an expanded sponsorship deal with Pace Foods, a division of Campbell Soup Co., and reached a deal with CBS that will put the sport back on network television for the first time in decades. It already is televised on cable TV’s Outdoor Life Network and ESPN.
Such agreements reflect the emergence of rodeo into the mainstream.
“These are really huge for us,” said PRCA Commissioner Steve Hatchell. “It’s been 40-plus years, maybe 50-plus years since rodeo has been on network television. We’ve got a new mega-sponsor, which is a highly recognized packaged product that is part of Campbell’s Soup, which is as good as it gets.”
“All we want to do is jump up and down.”
Since Hatchell took over as the PRCA’s commissioner, television coverage has expanded from 46 hours in 1998 to 211 hours this year. Sponsorships have more than doubled in the same time period, according to Steve Rempelos, executive vice president of PRCA Properties.
“We’re light years ahead of where we’ve been,” Rempelos said.
According to Scarborough Research Data, rodeo is either at or above the national average for sporting events in terms of who is watching and attending its events.
Here are some numbers from the 2002 Scarborough report:
o Rodeo fans are split 50-50 between men and women;
o 12 percent of fans are 18-24 (right at the national average);
o 22 percent are 25-34 (18 percent above the national average);
o 39 percent are 35-49 (24 percent above the national average).
Advertisers, such as the Marine Corps and Kawasaki, see those demographics as a way to reach a target audience, specifically, young outdoor enthusiasts.
“The appeal to the Marines and Kawasaki and several other companies is in a geographical sense,” Rempelos said. “The pull that rodeo has west of the Mississippi and the young audience that it draws, we’re able to deliver their message to a target core in a way that is uncluttered.”
While the sport is attracting new sponsors, it isn’t losing its old ones either.
“We’re expanding in a classic way,” Hatchell said. “Our old partners are meeting up with our new corporate partners and we’ve just got a great relationship.”
Hatchell also has expanded the sport itself, introducing the ProRodeo Tours, of which Pace has signed on as the title sponsor; and a bull-riding-only tour known as Xtreme Bulls, of which ESPN is the main backer.
That expansion has not come without difficulties.
The Tours — one summer and one winter — have their own standings and the Xtreme Bulls has its own standings, but the money won at all the events count in the regular-season rodeo standings, which determine the participants who qualify for the season-ending National Finals Rodeo.
“The Tour has totally baffled the people because they can’t figure out the difference between the Tour, the Jack Daniel’s standings and the actual rodeo,” said PRCA announcer Bob Tallman. “People come to Reno to watch them buck and watch them ride and rope. As fast as we run each performance, I don’t have time to give them a lesson every night.”
“I’m in support of what Commissioner Hatchell is trying to do,” Tallman added. “We haven’t created continuity yet in production, television, management and end results. I think it’s going to take a couple years to get it done. It’s a very transitional year and it’s very difficult in that transition to get everybody to agree let alone to follow suit and try to make it happen. We’ve got a lot of chiefs. We need more indians.”
Eight-time world champion bull rider Don Gay, who works as the color commentator for ESPN’s broadcasts of the Xtreme Bulls events, agrees with Tallman.
“I like some of the things our commissioner is doing,” Gay said. “He’s moving ahead. Are we going in the right direction? Who knows. We’ll have to wait and see.”
The network television deal with CBS has the attention of everyone inside the sport — and potential advertisers outside it. The PRCA pays CBS for the air time and then sells advertising to recoup its costs. Still, it’s a major step just getting the attention of one of the major networks.
“CBS won’t just sell time to anybody to create a show,” Rempelos said. “There has to be a rhyme or reason for them to do it. If they’re not having an increase in ratings or holding their own in that time slot, they’re not going to keep a show on the air. In our case, we’re going to have to prove ourselves with viable viewership numbers.”
If those numbers hold up, then one of the networks may offer to take up some of the production costs.
An example is the Arena Football League, which this year ended up splitting costs 50-50 with NBC to air its games.
Gay thinks it will be good to return the sport to network television.
“If we can afford it financially, which obviously our management thinks we can or they wouldn’t have done it, I believe it’s good for all of America to be able to turn it on.”
In past years, rodeo cowboys have had limited exposure to a national audience. ProRodeo Hall of Famer Jim Shoulders used to appear in the Miller Light Beer commercials and six-time world all-around champion Larry Mahan had some successful crossover appeal during the 1970s and ’80s. More recently, bull fighter Joe Baumgartner was featured in a Coors Original advertising campaign that featured other sports legends such as Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
Many of the cowboys see a bright future ahead.
“I think things are really going in the right direction,” said 41-year-old bareback rider Clint Corey, the 1991 world champion. “I’m not sure that I’ll be around long enough to enjoy the end result of all this, but I think it’s definitely good for the sport.”
Hatchell agreed:
“We still have a lot of work to do, but I think we’re moving in the right direction,” he said.
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/06/27/45678.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: