By Bob Feist
Ropers Sports News - 6/2/08
It is the same story everywhere I go anymore and that is about the cost of fuel and other expenses involved in team roping. For years I have written stories about keeping your roping in perspective. For the majority of the team roping world it is a hobby and should be treated as such.
It is time to break out the old pencil and do the math on some of your trips and roping ventures. If the whole family enjoys the outings and you are all together then there is a lot of value to be considered as it always is when families can do things together. Most families have hobbies that cost money and they do their hobbies by choice. Many hobbies do not have the ongoing expense that team roping does when you decide not to go for a couple of weeks. This is not the case when you have animals involved which have to be fed and maintained regardless if you go or not. The folks who boat, golf, camp, or do many other hobbies can just hang it up for a while.
The PRCA today allows the team ropers to only count 70 rodeos for the year towards the ranking for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. I was doing some math the other day and figured that the average rodeo cost a contestant around $500 which would mean that if a roper went to all 70 rodeos he would have spent $35,000. This is figured very low as I was only figuring entry fees of $150 which is minimal in today’s world of rodeo. If you went to a rodeo that was only 400 miles round trip you would have to travel pretty thrifty to come home with any money if you won say $600. I had two nights of rooms at $60 per night, total $120. Meals; two days at $30 per day = $60. Entry fees; $150. Feed; $40. Fuel in a truck that would get 10 miles per gal. = about $158. The total expenses are $528, not including wear and tear on truck and equipment.
If you were to go to 70 rodeos a year, that means on some weekends you would have to be going to more than one rodeo and that would double your entry fee expense, which I had set low in the first place. So if one was to rodeo for a living today they would have to be winning a whole bunch or have some very generous parents and/or sponsors.
Now let’s talk about the guys in the rodeo business that have been doing their share of winning and have been adding to their profit picture. Daniel Green had a great month of March, winning the Timed Event Championship and has been holding his own in April by sticking to his plan of not traveling too far from home and spending more time with the family. Fortunately for him the spring rodeos are in full swing in California and he has been doing his share to win the right ones. He captured the Cow Palace Crown with Todd Hampton and then went up to the Red Bluff Round Up and won it with partner Dugan Kelly. So far in the California Circuit Daniel is the man in the heading. As of this writing Clovis is going on and so is Auburn so he may show some more winnings by the end of the month.
