National Finals Rodeo

The National Finals Rodeo (known as the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo for sponsorship reasons), organized by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), is the premier championship rodeo event in the United States. The NFR showcases the talents of the PRCA's top 15 money-winners in each event as they compete for the world title.

The NFR is held each year in the first full week of December, at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. (UNLV) and is aired live on CBS Sports Network. Cowboy Christmas, a cowboy gift show, is held concurrent with the rodeo at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Since the rodeo uses 'special dirt', the dirt is stored on the UNLV campus for use in the next NFR.

The NFR is the final rodeo event of the PRCA season. World championship titles are awarded to the individuals who earn the most money in his or her event throughout the year:

The World All-Around Rodeo Champion Cowboy title is awarded at the end of the NFR to the highest-earning cowboy who has regularly competed in more than one event during the year.

In addition to world championships, an average winner is crowned in each event.

Since this event is extremely popular, it sells out all seats for all of the events. Many casinos carry the events live in their sports books or host special parties to accommodate all of the fans in town who can not get tickets for the events. Most of the major hotels and casinos book special entertainment into their showrooms with a country theme offering many of the regular shows an extended break.

The NFR consists of ten days, each of which has a competition, or "go-round", in each event with its own prizes. In addition, each event has a separate set of prizes for having the best combined results over the ten days, referred to as "the average."

The payouts are based on the total prize pool. For every $208,000 in the prize pool, the top six in each go-round receive $620, $490, $370, $260, $160, and $100, and the top eight in the average receive $1590, $1290, $1020, $750, $540, $390, $270, and $150.

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