The World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) is changing the narrative for rodeo contestants. They are doing this by allowing ANY rodeo event to be a qualifier, which means rodeo contestants can attend any event of their choosing and get points as long that event has been approved. In the world of rodeo, contestants have been used to the same old structure for years now, show up to specifically sanctioned rodeos, and compete sometimes for up to ten days in a row, with no guarantee of a decent payout.
Since launching in May of 2018, the World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) and its partners have awarded more than $8.5 million in new money to rodeo athletes.
How Does the WCRA Work?
You might be asking yourself, “But how does all of that work and how do contestants get payouts?” Great question! Here is the breakdown.
The very first thing that needs to be done in order for contestants to start earning points and potential cash bonuses is nominating the events they want to participate in. For example, you’re heading to a jackpot this weekend and you want to earn additional points to qualify for the WCRA Semi-Finals, a WCRA Major event, or other potential Million-Dollar events, all you need to do is nominate that event prior to competing in order to receive points for it. Now let’s jump into how WCRA athletes make the money.
Once an athlete has nominated an event (prior to competing), points are awarded if and when the athlete places and earns money. Essentially, you are awarded points based on the Top 10 paid places for each discipline. You can read about the full scoring system here. The WCRA Leaderboard is updated weekly so contestants know where they stand on the leaderboard.
Great! They are on the leaderboard, but what are the next steps? At this point, athletes can qualify for any of the Major WCRA rodeos held by the WCRA (often in conjunction with PBR events). An example of the progression for qualifying rounds at events looks like this:
- Preliminary Round: Include 48 Contestants Athletes ranked 17-64 on the leaderboard.
- Progressive Round: Includes 24 athletes from the previous round and 8 athletes from the leaderboard ranked 9-16 on the leaderboard.
- Final Round: Includes 8 athletes from the progressive round and 8 athletes from the leaderboard ranked 9-16 on the leaderboard.
- Million Dollar 1-Day Event: Includes 9 athletes, 8 from the previous round and 1 from the #1 spot on the leaderboards.
A Chance at the Triple Crown
The Triple Crown isn’t just a term for horse racing anymore. The Triple Crown is an annual bonus that pays a $1,000,000 cash award to any athlete or collection of athletes who wins first place in any three consecutive WCRA Major Rodeos. Now that’s some major cash!
WCRA Partners
The World Champions Rodeo Alliance is proud to partner with several major players in the western industry, some of those being the PBR, International Pro Rodeo Association, Cowboys Professional Rodeo Association, National High School Rodeo Association, and many more. The goal? To bring the rodeo industry together and provide opportunities to all rodeo athletes to go big.
WCRA Rodeo Schedule
2022 Rodeo Corpus Christi
May 11-14 | TRIPLE CROWN OF RODEO | American Bank Center | Payout: $550,000
The World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) recently announced that Rodeo Corpus Christi will play host to the first stop of the 2022 WCRA Triple Crown of Rodeo (TCR). The first 2022 WCRA Major Rodeo will be held May 11-14 and will pay out $550,000.
The TCR is a series of annual major rodeo events which includes an annual bonus that will pay $1 million to any one athlete or collection of athletes who win first place in any three consecutive WCRA Major Rodeos. WCRA Triple Crown of Rodeo events is all featured in CBS Television network broadcasts each year. Find more information here.
2022 Women’s Rodeo World Championship
May 16-18, 2022 | TRIPLE CROWN OF RODEO | Fort Worth, TX | Payout: $750,000
2022 Utah Days of 47 Rodeo
July 20-23 & 25 | TRIPLE CROWN OF RODEO | Utah State Fairpark- Salt Lake City | Payout: $562,500
Nominations are open now for the $562,000 July 2022 Utah Days of ‘47 Rodeo until June 26 at 11:59 p.m. Every athlete who competes at the event will receive a $500 appearance fee and an additional $750 if they advance to the Gold Medal Round. For more information, click here.
Originally posted by Cowboy Lifestyle Network. Content created by Krysta Paffrath.