In the world of rodeo, contestants have been used to the same old structure for years now, show up to specifically sanctioned rodeos, compete sometimes for up to ten days in a row, with no guarantee of a decent payout. The World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) is changing the narrative for rodeo contestants. They are doing this by allowing ANY rodeo event to be a qualifier, which means rodeo contestants can attend any event of their choosing and get points as long that event has been approved.
Since launching in May of 2018, the World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) and its partners have awarded more than $8.5 million in new money to rodeo athletes.
You might be asking yourself, “But how does all of that work and how do contestants get payouts?” Great question! Here is the breakdown.
The very first thing that needs to be done in order for contestants to start earning points and potential cash bonuses is nominating the events they want to participate in. For example, you’re heading to a jackpot this weekend and you want to earn additional points to qualify for the WCRA Semi-Finals, a WCRA Major event, or other potential Million-Dollar events, all you need to do is nominate that event prior to competing in order to receive points for it. Now let’s jump into how WCRA athletes make the money.
Once an athlete has nominated an event (prior to competing), points are awarded if and when the athlete places and earns money. Essentially, you are awarded points based on the Top 10 paid places for each discipline. You can read about the full scoring system here. The WCRA Leaderboard is updated weekly so contestants know where they stand on the leaderboard.
Great! They are on the leaderboard, but what are the next steps? At this point, athletes can qualify for any of the Major WCRA events held by the WCRA (often in conjunction with PBR events). An example of the progression for qualifying rounds at events looks like this:
- Preliminary Round: Include 48 Contestants Athletes ranked 17-64 on the leaderboard.
- Progressive Round: Includes 24 athletes from the previous round and 8 athletes from the leaderboard ranked 9-16 on the leaderboard.
- Final Round: Includes 8 athletes from the progressive round and 8 athletes from the leaderboard ranked 9-16 on the leaderboard.
- Million Dollar 1-Day Event: Includes 9 athletes, 8 from the previous round and 1 from the #1 spot on the leaderboards.
A Chance at the Triple Crown
The Triple Crown isn’t just a term for horse racing anymore. The Triple Crown is an annual bonus that pays a $1,000,000 cash award to any athlete or collection of athletes who wins first place in any three consecutive WCRA Major Rodeos. Now that’s some major cash!
WCRA Partners
The World Champions Rodeo Alliance is proud to partner with several major players in the western industry, some of those being the PBR, International Pro Rodeo Association, Cowboys Professional Rodeo Association, National High School Rodeo Association, and many more. The goal? To bring the rodeo industry together and provide opportunities to all rodeo athletes to go big.
Corpus Christi Nominations Open Now
Nominations for May 3-6 Rodeo Corpus Christi (Segment 7) are now open until April 11 while nominations for the November 2021 Women’s Rodeo World Championship (Segment W21) will remain open until October 3. Rodeo athletes from all over the globe are eligible to qualify to compete at the $545,000 Rodeo Corpus Christi (64 timed event, 30 rough stock) and the $750,000 Women’s Rodeo. For more information visit wcrarodeo.com.
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