Crowd-less rodeo was ‘eerie,’ but educational
BRAWLEY – The dust is still settling at Cattle Call Arena, but already there are lessons to be learned from the 2020 edition of this city’s signature event.
As has been previously reported, this year’s Cattle Call Rodeo took place entirely in the absence of crowds. All of the competitions were livestreamed on the Cowboy Channel Plus app and will be broadcast over the course this weekend on the regular Cowboy Channel.
Although the Cattle Call Rodeo Committee most definitely wants the event to return with live crowds, open concession stands and the widespread civic involvement precedes it, Chairman Carson Kalin said he’s “leaning” toward continuing to offer livestreaming next year.
“Having it livestreamed is a completely new experience,” he said. “Next year we could actually have a large-screen TV at the beer stand so you won’t miss anything.”
Kalin said he didn’t have total viewership numbers as of press time, but he observed, “The sponsorship opportunities are huge. … As you look at the replay of the performances, there are sponsor names on the corners or on a lower banner. There are also lots of video of the sponsors banners in the arena plus the announcer’s scripts. This is all out to what they claim to be their viewership, which they say is 90 million. I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration. … But, my point is that someone like Empire Machinery/ Massey will reach their targeted demographic (farmers who buy their equipment) from here to the Canadian border.”
He said about the only thing that would prevent the committee from livestreaming the event again next year would be the cost to do so.
Lower costs was one of the keys to the committee being able to go forward with the rodeo this year. Kalin said he expects this year’s event will raise about $130,000 when it’s all said and done, which is a fraction of the receipts in a typical year. However, he added, many of the expenses are way down, too.
“We really won’t have the whole picture until all of the bills come in,” he said. “Fortunately, we have the reserves to be able to sustain a loss of this magnitude.”
Participation in the year’s Cattle Call in terms of entries was at its highest since 2009. There were 268 entries in this year’s competitions, with the only event down from
2019 being barrel racing.
“Because of the pandemic, there was only one PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) rodeo and a circuit finals since our rodeo last year in the state of California,” Kalin said, “and the circuit finals was attendance-free, so contestants have been very hungry to compete.”
Not only were there more contestants, but they were more accomplished ones as well, he said. “There were a number of NFR (National Finals Rodeo) champions and qualifiers for this year’s NFR in Arlington, Texas, so from a sports standpoint, the rodeo was excellent even with masks.
“Because we only had PRCA events,” Kalin continued, “our performances were all at least 40 minutes faster, so it was a very fast-moving performance but without any crowd enthusiasm -- kinda weird. I was able to watch more rodeo than ever I think because of all of the other things that normally happen, like concessions and simple crowd control simply were not issues.”
Those non-issues, however, did come at a price for several non-profits for which the rodeo represents a significant fundraising opportunity.
“For example, the Claddagh Club, which sells all of our tickets normally would be receiving in excess of $10,000,” Kalin explained. “Other clubs and churches, I’m guessing, probably have sales of at least $100,000 as they get all of the proceeds of their sales.”