Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo, NFR Open Agrees to Extension | Sport

This isn’t the NFR Open’s first Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo and it won’t be their last.

NFR Open will remain a prominent part of the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo for the foreseeable future after both parties agreed to a seven-year extension to maintain the program component of the event.

Tom Glause, CEO of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, said he is pleased with the move.

“It was exciting to bring a national event of this caliber to our hometown,” said Glause. “We are proud to be involved in the community and to have our headquarters here in Colorado Springs. … This rodeo is in elite company. It pays more than $1 million (to participants) and that puts it in the company of five or six other rodeos in the country.”

In 2022, the NFR Open joined the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo as the National Circuit Finals Rodeo and has since been renamed.

The NFR Open includes events such as bull riding, tug-of-war and barrel racing, takes place every year at the Pikes Peak of Bust Rodeo and features competitors from North America and Mexico.

“We are grateful to Tom and grateful to Paul (Woody) and the PRCA for doing this with us,” said Chris Whitney, president of Pikes Peak of Bust Rodeo. “We’re looking at seven years – I probably won’t see the end of that, but the next person can extend it after that.”

The rodeo, which runs July 9-13, will feature seven performances in five days instead of five performances in four days.

Glause said last year’s event had a $6 million impact on the economy and they are grateful to have given the area such a boost.

“This is where we live, so that’s important for what it does for all of our businesses, development and culture in the area,” Whitney said. “It’s important to the military families in the area. It’s better than stagnating and growing in a way that we wouldn’t want to grow.”