TWISTED RODEO ANALYSIS
The initial scan of the 2026 National Finals Rodeo payout seems to show a decrease, but don’t let your eyes fool you.
The overall go-round purse has increased by nearly $77,000 per night, $9,615 per event. The top number is what everyone sees, though; if it looks deflated, that’s because it is. A year ago, round winners grabbed $36,668 for each of the 10 nights. This year, that figure is $33,893.
It’s not a negative, though – far from it. The main reason comes with the inclusion in who gets paid. For more than three decades, NFR go-rounds paid the top six places. Starting this year, that number increases to eight.
That means on average, at least 53 percent of the field will be paid each night. More than half will earn money. That’s a good thing.
“It’s going to pay just a tick under what it did last year, which is still over $30,000 for eight seconds,” said Tim O’Connell, a three-time world champion bareback rider who serves as an analyst on Cowboy+ broadcasts when he’s not competing. “When you come to the National Finals, you have the most elite athletes in the world with the most elite stock in the world.
“I’ve been on the side where you can draw no wrong and you can ride no wrong, and you make huge amounts of money very quickly. I’ve also been on the other side of that, where you start cold, then you have to work your way back in and don’t make as much money out there even though you’re riding good.”
O’Connell talked about nights when he finished just out of the money, in that seventh- and eighth-place range. He made no money on those nights, but he was still riding well. The competition at the NFR might be the most intense of the season.
“The main reason for it passing was just trying to get all 15 guys more money,” said Riley Duvall, now a five-time NFR qualifier who is the PRCA’s steer wrestling event director. “If you make the finals, you should not be leaving in the hole (financially).
“There have been multiple guys throughout the years that have left Vegas down on money, did not win anything. Hopefully now, though, the lowest guy leaves there with $20,000-something.”
Each of the 120 spots earns a $10,000 qualifying bonus that counts toward world standings. Stetson Wright, for example, earns that in both events in which he competes. That bonus, though, is typically gone before the players arrive, spent on tickets for family for each of the 10 days of the championship. If a contestant fails to finish in the money over that stretch, he or she will go home empty-handed.
“I don’t see the downside to us expanding this to eight places,” Duvall said. “First place still pays $33,000 and next year should go back to $36,000. Vegas is going to keep up the money. I see on Facebook some (people) are already complaining, but it’s going to be more guys making more money. In the bulldogging, that means the hazers make more money and the guys that own horses will make more money.”
In the breakdown, the top three holes in go-round payout will see a deficit from last year:
First place: $2,775 decreased from last year.
Second place: $1,482 less
Third place: $140 less
You read that right. Combined, the top three spots will drop $4,397. The margins turn beginning at fourth place, though, and the money goes up:
Fourth place: $610 more
Fifth Place: $2,048 more
Sixth place: $2,399 more
That’s a $5,057 gain in what has been paid to the bottom three places. In essence, the payout for the top six is an increase, and then seventh and eighth place will be able to cash in to the tune of almost $9,000; seventh place will pay $5,755, and eighth will be $3,197.
Take bareback rider Bradlee Miller, for example. At the 2025 NFR, Miller placed three times and finished seventh in the average. He earned $42,582 for his 10 days. Had the new pay scale been implemented, he would have placed on seven nights and reeled in $64,248.
That’s substantial, and it’s the reason the PRCA made the change.
“I knew there’d be some backlash, because there were a few bulldoggers that didn’t like it,” Duvall said. “I just don’t see a problem if more guys are making more money. We’re going to leave the average where it’s at for a while – I think it pays plenty – so we’re just working on building the rounds.”
O’Connell sees the positives.
“Paying eight is very similar to the rodeos we compete at during the regular season against 45 guys or 60 guys,” he said. “The NFR is the cream of the crop. There is no room for error. Even if you want that eighth-place check, you’d better be bringing it every night anyway.
“I think it’s going to play into the world-title race at the end of the year, too. I think that’s good. I think that creates drama for the sport. Does the No. 1 guy in the world like that? Probably not, but at the end of the day, how it shakes out is how it shakes out.
“It’s just good for everybody.”