Million-dollar rodeo: Lucrative event lures international lineup to KC’s Sprint Center

A chance to pocket shares of a single-day purse totaling more than $1 million brought rodeo competitors from around the globe to Kansas City Friday night.

With the Sprint Center stretch of Grand Boulevard temporarily closed to vehicle traffic outside, cowboys and cowgirls inside played to an enthusiastic crowd at the inaugural Royal City Roundup — the first of three straight rodeo days at the arena.

Doling out so much money in a single evening is a relatively new concept for rodeo. Traditionally, hopefuls try to win a bit each week and accumulate points toward competing in a big, season-ending finale.

Eight events were contested Friday, the first leg of the three-part 2020 Triple Crown of Rodeo staged by the World Championship Rodeo Association (WCRA). Subsequent WCRA rodeos are scheduled for May 16 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and Aug. 28 in Tacoma, Washington.

Friday’s winners were to be awarded $50,000 apiece as part of $111,000-plus prize pools for each discipline at Sprint Center: bareback riding, women’s breakaway roping, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, team roping, tie-down roping, barrel racing and bull riding.

The one-night, winner-take-all format made for high-stakes competition.

In bareback, Canadian five-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier Orin Larsen reached the showdown round with an 88.5-point ride in the long round. He pocketed the first-place prize with a 90.5 performance in the finale.

Erich Rogers of Round Rock, Arizona, and Paden Bray of Granbury, Texas, turned in a 3.65-second run in the team roping money round, topping the runner-up score of 3.67 and the third-place 4.4 produced by Lonedell, Missouri’s Paul Eaves and Cody Snow of Stephenville, Texas.

In steer wrestling, three-time NFR qualifier J.D. Struxness of Appleton, Minnesota, scored a 4.37 time for first, beating the 4.41 recorded by Gruver, Texas’ Trell Etbauer, son of Pro Rodeo Hall of Famer Robert Etbauer.

Forty-year-old Chet Johnson of Douglas, Wyoming, came out on top in saddle bronc with a 86-5-point score in the long round and 91.5 in the finale.

Reigning and two-time WPRA champion Kelsie Chace of Cherokee, Oklahoma, won in breakaway roping, while two-time world champ Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi of Lampasas, Texas, claimed the $50,000 in barrel racing.

The biggest cash prize came in tie-down roping, where the first-place take was doubled to $100,000 because no qualified time had been posted last June 1 during the Titletown Stampede in Green Bay, Wisconsin. New Mexican Shad Mayfield’s time of 7.24 bested runner-up Marty Yates of Stephenville, Texas, by one one-hundredth of a second.

Two-time Professional Bull Riding champ Jess Lockwood of Volberg, Montana, and Joao Ricardo Vieira and Jose Vitor Leme, both of Decatur, Texas, all failed to cover in the showdown round, so each settled for $12,500 from the short round. The $50,000 bull-riding payout will carry forward to the May 16 “Stampede at The E” in Oklahoma.

Rodeo action continued Saturday and Sunday at Sprint Center with the PBR’s 17th annual Unleash the Beast Caterpillar Classic, featuring the top 35 bull riders in the world. Start times were scheduled for 6:45 p.m. Saturday and 1:45 p.m. Sunday.

All Friday night results can be found here.