National Western Stock Show and Rodeo Preview

The timed event qualifiers for the 2023 National Western Stock Show and Rodeo will take place Dec. 21-22 in Denver, Colo.

PRCA Photo by Ric Andersen

While the top 15 cowboys and cowgirls in the world just got done with an exhausting 10 days of competition at the 2023 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nev., those with aspiring hopes and dreams have been preparing to compete in the qualifying rounds of the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo (NWSSR), the first of the major winter rodeo tour that starts in Denver, Colo., on Dec. 21 with the timed event qualifying rounds. 

Here, cowboys in the tie-down roping, steer wrestling, and team roping compete to earn one of the 40 positions that will advance from the qualifier. A total of 80 contestants will compete in the actual rodeo. The 40 that do not have to attend the qualifying round include the top 30 from the 2023 PRCA standings, the top five from the current 2024 PRCA standings (the actual 2024 year started Oct. 1, 2023), and the top five from the 2023 Mountain States Circuit (consists of all PRCA rodeos in Colorado and Wyoming) standings.

The other 40 will come from the competition held on Thursday and Friday. These will be made up of the top 10 in each of the two rounds, including splits, and then the top 20 in the average on the two head. This type of format allows for nearly anyone holding a PRCA card to qualify for the main competition in Denver. 

Contestants appreciate this type of format so that they have a chance to enter as opposed to a limited format that only allows the top few contestants in the standings to compete.

The formal competition for the NWSSR starts on Jan. 11, with a total of 20 performances that conclude with the finals on Jan. 21st. 

The format of the rodeo will include eight brackets of 10 contestants each. Each bracket will compete in two go-rounds in a back-to-back format. The top three contestants from each bracket, based on the average, will advance to the semi-finals rounds. Those 24 contestants will compete in one of three performances of eight contestants each on Saturday, Jan. 20. 

Then, the top four from each of the semi-final’s performances will advance to the finals bringing a total of 12 competitors to the finals round. 

Each time a contestant advances from round to round, the competition becomes a clean slate. For instance, a competitor might win their bracket but then fall out at the semi-finals level. There is no average calculation past the bracket competition.

In the past several years, the bracket-type format has become popular with committees, but the jury is still out on how the cowboys and cowgirls feel about it. 

Many feel like it makes planning difficult to get to other rodeos, along with reducing the payout. 

Other contestants love the new style of rodeo, stating that it gives them a clean slate each time, and they only have to compete against a few instead of the entire field. 

Many of the winter rodeos have implemented this format, including the NWSSR, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo and RodeoHouston.