So the IPRA is no longer (f ever was) a member ran association. Sounds like they're going to look for other alternatives to bring more rodeos in. How do you think they could make it more like the PBR biz model with all the rodeos and all them members? Any ideas on this? You do have to register to visit the site.
This is an article that appeared in todays Daily Oklahoman.
IFR might not return to Oklahoma City
By Ed Godfrey
The Oklahoman
The International Finals Rodeo might not return to Oklahoma City next year.
The rodeo, which is the season ending championship of the International Professional Rodeo Association, has been held in Oklahoma City since it moved from Tulsa in 1991.
But the IPRA, which also is headquartered in Oklahoma City, has been bought by two rodeo promoters from Colorado. They are not saying they are moving the IFR to another town, but they are not guaranteeing they won’t.
Jim Nichols, a former longtime employee of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, and Jason Adams, also a former PRCA employee and chief executive offer of Rodeo SI, a Colorado corporation, bought the IPRA in August.
They said the IPRA, which began in 1957 in Pauls Valley, was in financial trouble and on the verge of dissolving.
“We did not feel like the option of letting the second-largest rodeo organization with 330 rodeos and 200-plus members go under would be good for the industry and good for the sport,” Nichols said.
The new ownership plans to restructure the IPRA as a forprofit company by following the same business model used by NASCAR and Professional Bull Riders Inc.
Restructuring means changes will be made. Nichols and Adams say they will explore their options as far as the IFR’s future in Oklahoma City.
“We are trying to figure out where is the most viable spot for it,” Adams said.
Attendance at the IFR has dwindled over the years.
“As much as we enjoy Oklahoma, we can’t continue to lose as much money as we have to date,” Adams said.
But Adams said they still need to speak to city and state leaders about the IFR and the IPRA’s future before making a decision.
“We don’t have any desire to leave,” Nichols said. “We don’t have any location that is sitting out there saying, ‘We will pay you millions of dollars to bring your event to us.’
“But our options are also open. We need to look at it from a business standpoint and what is financially best for the organization.”
Oklahoma has more rodeo fans per capita than any other state, Adams said. v “But the problem is a lot of the major rodeos have gone away,” he said.
If the IFR does return to Oklahoma City, it likely would be rescheduled in a month other than January, where winter weather has restricted attendance, they said.
The IPRA will now be part of the new World Rodeo Federation, which Adams describes as an umbrella organization that hopes to bring all rodeo associations under the same roof.
“We’re too fragmented,” Adams said of the rodeo industry. “We hope the IPRA can be the epicenter for this new World Rodeo Federation.”
