The NFR And PBR Are Coming To Texas But The FWSSR Is Cancelled, Here's Why

The PBR World Finals is scheduled for November 12 - 15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The National Finals Rodeo is scheduled for December 3 - 12 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

The 2021 Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, a.k.a. FWSSR, was scheduled for January 15 - February 6 at Dickies Arena and surrounding areas in Fort Worth but has been cancelled.

Twenty miles and just a little over a month's time separate the FWSSR from the NFR and PBR World Finals. So why is it cancelled? This has been the question circulating through the western community.

When asked about how the FWSSR differs from the NFR and PBR, Stock Show Communications Manager, Matt Brockman, said, "Because we're a livestock show. We're a rodeo. We have judging team competitions. We're more than just a rodeo. Rodeo is important, we get that, those contestants are important to us just as those junior steer exhibitors are. When you look at it from an aggregate prospective, when you look at it comprehensively, the risk... We began looking at data that came to us on case loads and infection rates. Then we started looking really hard at the mitigation procedures that you would need to put in our livestock barns, or Dickies Arena, or any other part of our complex and we realized it was going to be really difficult to put those in place and enforce them."

In another part of the interview, Matt said, "It was really those big numbers [referring to the daily attendance of 140,000], that's where this is so much different than the NFR or PBR. Globe Life Field's awesome. Great technology. They can create visitor pods, they can deal with ingress and egress and get people in and out safely. It's going to go great at Globe Life Field. Our swine barn, our steer barn, our sheep barn are a different thing. Those people are just as important as our rodeo people." Click here for the full interview with Janie Johnson and Steve Kenyon.

Click here for the reaction from bareback rider, Tilden Hooper, and tie-down roper, Tyler Milligan.