Rural Media Group and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association have reached an agreement to expand rodeo television coverage through 2028.
The new deal will offer more rodeos on more platforms, including The Cowgirl Channel. It also includes setting television standards to broadcast rodeos, elevated rodeo productions, Spanish and Portuguese broadcasts, and improved sponsorship opportunities.
The expanded schedule includes a grand total of up to 900 rodeos per year across Rural Media Group properties.
“We’re really excited to see what the future holds for professional rodeo, especially in our partnership with The Cowboy Channel and Rural Media Group,” PRCA CEO Tom Glause said. “We think we can grow this bigger and bigger. The growth over the last few years have been tremendous.”
“We want to really join forces and see just how far we can really take this,” Rural Media Group President Patrick Gottsch said. “What we’ve done (with The Cowgirl Channel) has doubled the capacity to carry rodeos live on linear TV.”
Gottsch says Rural Media Group will take a “good, better, best approach,” with the top rodeos of the day going on The Cowboy Channel, providing a model similar to ESPN and ESPN2.
“Our expanded schedule will really give new opportunities for medium and smaller-sized rodeos to get more exposure on television,” Glause added. “I think they are the ones who are really going to benefit from this expanded schedule.”
