Wyoming’s Tourism Leaders View Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame As Game-Changer For State

When the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association uproots from Colorado Springs, planting its headquarters and its Hall of Fame in Cheyenne, it’s going to do a lot more than change a simple mailing address. 

Tourism officials say it has the potential to rewrite the tourism playbook for the entire Cowboy State.

It is a “golden ticket,” Cheyenne Frontier Days President and CEO Tom Hirsig said. 

Calling it a game changer isn’t too strong, Wyoming Office of Tourism Director Domenic Bravo told Cowboy State Daily. 

“I mean, we’re the Cowboy State. We’re a rodeo state,” Bravo said. “Rodeo is at our core. This is one of those things that aligns so well with the brand of the state of Wyoming and all of the amazing communities, big and small, that have rodeos that go on every year. This is just a testament to what we have going.”

In announcing the PRCA's vote to move to Cheyenne from its 40-plus-year home in Colorado Springs, the professional rodeo-sanctioning body has outlined a vision that includes a 35-acre campus located near the intersection of I-25 and I-80 which would serve as the “anchor” of a new western-themed entertainment, cultural, and shopping district.

The goal would include serving as a year-round destination for fans, families and visitors from around the world.

Bravo and Hirsig both believe that will create an extra draw to the state, one that’s bringing more people to a different area of the state than just already popular areas like Yellowstone National Park.

“It’s like the golden ticket to have them come up here,” Hirsig said. “Bringing in something like that is like bringing the NFL headquarters to Texas.”

Previously the Hall of Fame was dependent on “happenstance traffic,” retired bullfighter Marc Gill told Cowboy State Daily. It attracted around 35,000 visitors annually there, but when it’s sitting at a cross-country intersection like I-80 and I-25, he believes that foot traffic is going to go up. Way up.

“With people already coming here from all over the U.S., whether they’re coming from the east, the West, the North or the South, they’re going to have to go through that crossroads,” he said. “And with it being right there, with the right advertising, which the PRCA is good about, I think you’ll see the revenue of the museum and the tourism end of it increase exponentially.

Summer Long Rodeo?

One of the key selling points for the 11th-hour bid Cody put in to attract the PRCA to their city is that community’s summer long rodeo. 

Whether a summer-long rodeo could work in Cheyenne would depend greatly on just how much new tourism the city could attract. 

It would be cool, Hirsig acknowledged, but it would take a lot of people coming to Cheyenne, filling up the stands, to make a summer-long rodeo go. 

“Jackson and Cody do very well because in the summertime their towns are just packed with tourists,” he said. “So, I don’t know if it will get to where we’d be able to support that.”

It’s probably more likely, in the short term at least, that their presence would inspire additional rodeo events, or convince CFD guests to just extend their stay. 

Adding Weight To ‘Live The Legend’

Hirsig does see a lot of potential to build future tourism off the synergy between the PRCA being here and the culture that’s been growing in Cheyenne, centered around its slogan, “Live the Legend.”

“(That)is a great name,” he said. “But if you show up here in May or June what does the legend really mean? What is it?”

But then when guests start looking at all the rodeo and ranching-related bronzes of  that have recently been put downtown for the Capitol Avenue Bronze Project, as well as the ginormous Cowboy boots and the various museums including CFD’s Old West Museum, it’s a lot of Western Culture coming together like pearls on a single string.

“We have the new Native American village that’s going to be accessible throughout the year,” Hirsig said. “And then you have the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, too. This is really turning into a cultural epicenter when it comes to the Western spirit and Western way of life. So, I think it really lives up to ‘Live the Legend.’”

At some point, Hirsig added, the synergy gets big enough that people start thinking of Cheyenne as a destination that’s worth a drive from the East Coast or a plane ticket from a foreign country like Italy for a visit.

If there are enough visitors, then the idea of a summer long rodeo, or at the very least more rodeo events, starts to sound more feasible. 

If nothing else, it could help extend the two-week draw of its marquee event, Cheyenne Frontier Days, by giving visitors more reasons to extend their stay or to come back at other times of the year. 

“It’s going to be incredible,” Hirsig said. “I mean this community is really transforming before our eyes.”

Huge Economic Payday

The economic impact of the PRCA move exceeds $250 million, according to an economic impact study done by Cheyenne LEADS, the entity that approached PRCA about moving to Wyoming.

LEADS is a private, not-for-profit corporation that serves as the economic development entity for both the city of Cheyenne and Laramie County. It is privately funded, with revenue coming from businesses large and small, as well as dues paying members, and contracts it holds with both Cheyenne and Laramie County to provide economic development services.

LEADS' return on investment study shows a total economic impact of $252.6 million over a 10-year span, creating 368 construction-related jobs during the building phase and a total of 140 net new jobs on a permanent basis. 

A breakdown of the permanent jobs shows 92 direct, full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs with the PRCA, as well as 25 FTE jobs for support services and 23 FTE jobs supported by household spending. Full-time equivalent jobs may include part-time jobs whose hours add up to a full-time job.

Annual economic activity, meanwhile, totals $25.3 million, $15.9 million of which would be direct, with $9.4 million indirect and induced.

Annual property tax revenue to Laramie County would total $309,355, and sales tax revenue to Wyoming and Laramie County in the first year would total an estimated $319,680. 

By year 10, that is estimated to grow to almost a million, at $879,120 annually.

The economic impact by year 10 from Hall of Fame visitors is estimated at $12 million, with $8.1 million in direct impact, and $3.9 million in indirect and induced impact.

To bring the PRCA to Wyoming, LEADS has already committed $15 million in private funding to the venture. Gov. Mark Gordon, meanwhile, has asked the legislature for an additional $15 million, taken from Wyoming Office of Tourism funds which is supported by lodging taxes levied on hotel room stays. 

Endless Opportunities

Bravo is already thinking about the endless possibilities that the PRCA’s presence in Wyoming presents for the entire state.

New ideas that Bravo or other tourism leaders come up with aren’t part of the LEADS economic impact study. They would be a new synergy, layered on top. A wild card that could boost the impact far beyond the already huge $250 million impact. 

Bravo is no stranger to out-of-the-box thinking. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was part of the team that helped rethink some of Cheyenne’s events, to craft new events that could go on in spite of the pandemic. Some of these ideas have continued after the pandemic, including Cheyenne’s popular new rodeo, Hell on Wheels. 

Bravo told Cowboy State Daily he could see the PRCA’s presence prompting new events, coordinated with communities across the state. There’s also huge potential for integration with various museums, including Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum and others.

“This will be an additional asset to market,” Bravo said. “And then to just tie that whole story back into everything about our Western Heritage. That will be another critical part, so it elevates an already great story we have to tell.”

It will also be another, highly effective avenue for promoting Wyoming as a place where people can come to experience the true West in an immersive and exciting way.

“It just takes us to that whole new level,” he said. “I think the buildout from everything you can think of, from entertainment to educational components, will be pretty grand, on a grand scale.”

Rising Tide For Rodeo

But the impact doesn’t stop with tourism. 

It’s also seen a rising tide for every rodeo-loving community across the state, whether that’s Dubois with its every Friday night rodeo in the summer, Cody with its summer long Cody Nite Rodeo, Casper with its College National Finals Rodeo, Sheridan’s WYO Rodeo or any of the other small-town rodeos that will take place throughout the summer in communities from Kaycee to Greybull with Chugwater in between.

Guy Warpness, who is president of the Mountain States Circuit of the PRCA as well as a past president for Laramie’s Jubilee Days, which also has rodeo events, said he believes PRCA will bolster Wyoming’s already strong rodeo culture, as well as economies in small communities across Wyoming.

“If every rodeo in the state is not excited about this, there’s something wrong,” he said. “For Laramie, it gives us just one more thing to help promote our rodeo. It gives every rodeo in the state more opportunity to promote their rodeos.”

Wyoming has a rodeo program at every community college, Warpness added, including one at the University of Wyoming that’s coached by Seth Glause, who is the son of PRCA President and CEO Tom Glause.

Seth is a former rodeo competitor, himself, earning more than $600,000 during his career and qualifying for the NFR four times in bull riding. The Rock Springs native attended Laramie County Community College before going on to graduate from University of Wyoming and eventually accepting a position as head coach for the University of Wyoming rodeo team in 2023.

Only State-Sponsored Rodeo Team

Wyoming has an unusual level of commitment to rodeo, which Warpness believes was attractive to the PRCA. That commitment includes sponsorship by Wyoming tourism for Team Wyoming, to send college athletes to national competitions like CNFR in Casper and the National High School Finals Rodeo, which is often also in Wyoming. 

Team Wyoming celebrated its 20th anniversary last year and is the nation’s only state-sponsored professional rodeo team.

Among athletes on Team Wyoming’s 2025 roster were Brody Wells of Powell, Brody Cress of Hillsdale, and bullfighter Dusty Tuckness of Meeteetse, among others.

PRCA Chief Marketing Officer Paul Woody did mention Wyoming's high level of commitment to rodeo as particularly consequential to the organization’s deliberations in interviews with Cowboy State Daily. 

As Warpness sees it, the PRCA moving to Wyoming is really more of a homecoming than anything else, planting the organization in a state that embraces rodeo and is actively developing the next generation of competitors. 

“I’m not saying other states aren’t in (the PRCA Hall of Fame), but you also have a lot of stock contractors here, within (Wyoming), who are in the Hall of Fame,” Warpness said. “The most recent was Hal Burns and Burns Rodeo and their bull, Mr. T. He was just down there a couple years ago getting Mr. T inducted, so that brings it home again."

Tidal Wave Of Western Culture

The American West has a huge tailwind behind it at the moment, with popular television shows like Hollywood writer and producer Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone,” New York Times bestselling author Craig Johnson’s “Longmire,” New York Times bestselling author C.J. Box’s “Joe Pickett” television series and many others seemingly growing in popularity every day. 

Bravo sees huge potential in leveraging that popularity for Cowboy State tourism across the board.

“We’re at this precipice,” he said. “A lot of the Taylor Sheridan movies and shows that have come out have really highlighted Western culture, cowboy culture. To have something like (the PRCA), it’s really going to be a great thing for our state.”

With the right strategy, Bravo hopes Wyoming can evolve from being a scenic backdrop for other people’s Western stories to a place where visitors can come find a living, breathing Western culture to live out their own stories, with exciting rodeos right at the heart of it all.

“Rodeo is one of the most authentic expressions of who we are,” Bravo said. “I mean, it’s grit, it’s independence, it’s community and tradition. Those values don’t belong to just one town. The great thing about this is the rising tide will really raise all ships. If we’re really smart and intentional about it, we can strengthen the rodeo culture, local economies and community pride across our entire state.”

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.