The Padres Want to Stage Another Rodeo in Petco Park As Opponents Cry Foul

J.P. Hoornstra | Sep 26, 2024

Dec 28, 2021; San Diego, CA, USA; A general overall aerial view of the football field at Petco Park prior to the Holiday Bowl between the NC State Wolfpack and the UCLA Bruins. The game was cancelled because of COVID-19 protocols within the UCLA program. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Padres recently announced plans for Petco Park to host the second San Diego Rodeo in January.

The announcement has already ruffled feathers inside San Diego's City Hall.

"The city should not be in the business of profiting from inhumane animal practices, and I was disappointed to learn that this event has been scheduled at Petco Park," San Diego City Councilmember Kent Lee said in an email to the San Diego Union-Tribune. "The timing of our proposal will not be decided by any one event, and we continue to work collaboratively with the San Diego Humane Society, animal welfare advocates and other civic leaders to bring forward an animal welfare ordinance this year."

According to the Union-Tribune, the Padres trotted out "rodeo representatives" prior to their Sept. 16 home game to explain to the crowd that rodeo is an important cultural practice that stretches back over a century.

That plea might work to assuage baseball fans unfamiliar with rodeo who have ethical concerns about the event.

It will likely do little to calm the event's opponents both inside and outside City Hall.

According to CBS8, opponents of the rodeo argued in civil court over whether the San Diego Padres were violating city code in bringing the inaugural San Diego Rodeo to Petco Park in January.

The Animal Protection League and Showing Animals Respect and Kindness sued the Padres and C5 Rodeo, the company that put on the event, according to CBS8. They claimed the event violated municipal code, which prohibits non-service animals inside and around Petco Park.

The Padres' attorney, Elaine Harwell, argued on behalf of the rodeo, saying the statute "is actually meant to apply to the conduct and regulate the conduct of the patrons attending the events at Petco Park, not to govern what type of events or what type of entertainment is occurring at the ballpark."

Petco Park routinely hosts non-baseball events in the offseason. It hosted the Holiday Bowl for the last two years, but the game will move back to Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley for the 2024 season. 

The AMA Supercross circuit has also visited Petco in the offseason.

Neither of these events has been met with the same degree of criticism as the rodeo, in which the role of animals is routinely questioned. In Los Angeles, for example, competing rodeo organizations recently set aside their rivalries and united against an ordinance that would effectively cast them out of the city.

A similar push might be needed to save the rodeo in San Diego, depending on the prevailing appetite for the event in City Hall.