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DISCLAIMER: The following contains my personal opinions
and recollections of both recent and past incidents. They might be correct or incorrect--accurate or inaccurate.
You must remember that as a
bull rider who rode sorry--
I had lots of injuries--
--some of which were to the
head.
The Dilemma......
There is a PRCA board of directors meeting October
3rd in Las Vegas. Under new business I’m
guessing that the stock contractors and committee reps are going to propose a
RE-reorganization of the PRCA board.
Previous to the mid 1980s the board had 11 eleven
members--BB, SB, BR, CR, SW, TR, SR directors, 1 Stock Contractor director, 1
Committee director, and 1 Contract Personnel director. All were directly elected to the board by
their respective constituents for two year terms. A President was elected by the entire membership for a two year
term. Two Vice Presidents were then
appointed by the board. Usually it was
one timed eventer and one riding eventer.
Neither the Pres. nor the VP’s
had a vote.
Back then it was thought that the timed events
controlled the PRCA board. Since there
were so many timed event members they usually got the President they wanted
plus they had four event directors on the board versus three for the riding
events. They had the hammer and often
used it.
For sure if they stuck together the contestants
controlled the board. This was
difficult for the stock contractors to accept.
They had hundreds of thousands of invested dollars being placed at constant
risk by a board controlled by usually young, militant event reps--most of which
had no business background. Most of
the Riding event reps got elected over dissatisfaction over NFR selections or
short go disagreements--stuff that while important to the contestants had
little relevance to running the RCA/PRCA rodeo as a business. Timed event guys got elected mostly on “we
hate the RCA/PRCA management” platform.
I probably got elected on that basis.
The committees had their own organization which was
always fighting with the board over rules that were one-sided (pro
contestants). Many times what was good
for the contestants cost the committees and contractors money and actually
diminished the product they put before the public. It was a just too volatile of an environment to conduct good
business. Too many decisions were made
quickly, mostly based on emotions--with little thought of the consequences or
ramifications.
THEN.... there came a hostile take-over by the major
stock contractors and big rodeos. A
reorganization of the PRCA governing structure. It was a REAL mess.
Lots of hard feelings. The
PRCA, due to losses from the Winston Tour and a lawsuit over amateuring, had
ended up maybe $400,000-$500,000 in the hole.
It was really only a temporary short fall since within a few weeks they
were due to get ( I’m thinking)--$700,000 (each year) from Wrangler from the
licensing percentage off Cowboy Cut jeans.
Still, for a few influential rodeo committees, stock contractors, and
sponsors--plus a majority of the timed event membership--some drastic changes
were called for. Although, unlike the
other groups, the time-ees idea was to kill the Winston Tour and get a new
President and PRCA Properties head guy.
But prior to the reorganization scuffle, the head
of PRCA Properties had resigned... and
all those sponsors that he had generated and cultivated--were really
upset. They were really HIS sponsors
not PRCA sponsors. Over a period of
years he had taken PRCA sponsorships from a small amount to 8 million
dollars. According to the
contractor/committee assault team--the sponsors were ready to pull out of PRCA
rodeo. The board appointed a non voting
sponsor director trying to smooth things over but he felt the same way the
other sponsors supposedly did--probably more strongly than most of them
did. I’m thinking he worked for
Wrangler at the time. So the PRCA’s
two biggest sponsors were really ticked off.
And they were expressing their dissatisfaction throughout the rodeo
industry.
To go back prior to the
resignation....
Okay.... the Winston Tour was under attack from
mostly the timed event membership because the Tour events were limited and the
points counted. I’m thinking there
were 12-14 teams (so 12-14 contestants from each event)--all selected by a
draft. Therefore you could be in the
top 15 the prior year and not get drafted.
The non Tour contestants felt that counting the monney won as
championship points was an unfair advantage since there was around a million
bucks (split up among 7 events which included GBR) of prize money that they couldn’t run at. Even though the Tour contestants couldn’t
go to other rodeos during a Tour event--it was still considered an unfair
advantage. But unless the points
counted the guys couldn’t afford to go to the rodeos.
Was it fair?
Heck no. To be a SPORT requires
fairness. On the other hand to do good
business--fairness is usually no where to be found. At this point in time the PRCA really needed to do good
business. But alas... rodeo only
wanted to be a sport... and a minor one at that.
Big Contractors saw that eventually if the tour
expanded they’d take over the better markets which would cost them some rodeos
or make their best contracts worthless since they’d have to spend so much
bringing in the top end of the bucking stock from many contractors. The big committees worried that if the Tour
was successful they might be considered minor league. Add to this that Winston who’s program had been spread out to a
couple of hundred rodeos, cut that support and
put their money into the TOUR. Lots of people were upset.
And, after trying unsuccessfully to do Tour rodeos
in places that didn’t have PRCA rodeos, the Tour began taking all or parts of
established rodeos which resulted in lots of mad contestants--most of which
were timed eventers. The timed event
economy has always been based on large numbers or entries and large amounts of
entry fee dollars.
The Tour had lost a little money but Lexington,
Kentucky really smoked it. Nobody
came. Seems like there was a college
football game and a couple of high school games that weekend--plus not many
people back there were interested to begin with. It was a disaster.
While the Tour had expected and made allowances for SOME losses--this
one rodeo probably doubled them. They
might’ve dropped $250,000-$300,000 there.
Just guessing.
So all this became a presidential election issue--in
fact THE only issue. Looked like it
was going to be the incumbent versus an ANTI Tour timed event guy they’d convinced to run. Then something strange happened. I get a call from a board member who tells
me that the previous night he’d been to a SECRET meeting in another state. What he’d heard and seen-- scared the heck
out of him. Also made him mad. Supposedly the current President, the Head
of PRCA Properties, and some other staff members and the PRCA lawyer were
there. Think maybe only one board
member was invited. It was a DOUBLE CROSS.
They supposedly unveiled a reorganization plan which
would take the contestants off the governing board. I never saw it--but that’s what he said. I respected this guy. If he told me something it was usually
right. So... he says that the current
Pres. has to go but we sure couldn’t let the timed event guy get in
either. Said we needed to look for
someone who could beat them both. A couple
of days pass and I start getting “you gotta run” “you can beat um” phone calls.
Several from some pretty influential people who’s opinions I
respected. So I say ... “Okay... but
you have to do the campaigning--I ain’t kissin no babies or anything
else”.
What ended up happening was that it WAS a close
election... only the timed event guy beat the incumbent. All I’d done is split the incumbent’s
vote. BIG screw-up. I’ve heard that I carried a majority of the
guys who rodeo’d for a living but unfortunately that group is around 5% of the
total voting membership. What neither
I or the incumbant considered was the GOLD CARD vote... which back then was all
old time-ees who might not have rodeo’d in twenty years but still had voting
privileges. Even though he had alot of
support from the ANTI TOUR timed event membership it was the GOLD-EES that
carried the guy in.
It wasn’t long before the head of PRCA Properties
resigned and shortly there after Winston pulled out of rodeo. When Winston quit and Wrangler wouldn’t
take over as the Tour Title sponsor, the
team sponsors dropped out. Dead
Tour. Badly injured Association. They’d just lost maybe a couple of million
bucks of sponsor money. Maybe even
more than that.
So ... a few of the biggest stock contractors and
rodeo committees pushed to reorganize the board. Either change the board or they would totally take over. Make all the rules. In retrospect--it was probably an idle
threat--but it hard for the event reps to believe that the contestants would
stick together long enough to make a strike work. Other guys would go to the big rodeos. Fact of life then. Fact
of life now.
It is interesting that the reorganization plan they
came with was basically the SAME plan the PRCA staff had supposedly introduced
at the secret meeting. Least that’s
what I’ve been told. So actually it
was an inside job. A good BUSINESS
decision. When the board finally voted
to reorganize they added a contract personnel director position. This was done mostly because they liked the
rep. As we will see later one--that
generosity has come back to bite them in the BUTT.
Currently the board has No President, no VP’s.... 2
Riding Event Directors, 2 Timed Event directors, 2 Stock Contractor directors,
2 Rodeo Committee directors (and committees are now PRCA members, too), 1
Contract Performer director, and 2 Independent Business Person directors. Event reps serve two year terms. The three riding event reps pick the two
people who will have votes on the big board.
They don’t have to pick themselves.
The four timed event reps pick two.
This has been a real problem at times. There have been hard feelings every single
year. Two guys can keep someone they
don’t like--off the board. Sometimes
it even comes down to one guy’s vote.
That’s not good. Even though
the non voting event reps get to attend board meetings they have to leave the
room when important business issues come up.
That is demeaning. Plus, there
is animosity over the NFR. Directors
get to sit on the PLAZA level--the event reps in the balcony. The directors stay at the RIO... the event
reps elsewhere. Trivial but still an
issue. Personally
I’d rather stay somewhere else. Oh yeah, the Directors and STAFF get steak
for lunch and the poor event reps get a Happy Meal. That’s a biggie.
The stock contractors, committees, and contract
personnel are elected to COUNCILS who then appoint their voting members to the
big board. The Big Board then selects
the two businessmen reps. Because of
the way the rodeo committees are allowed to elect (where one producer or stock
contractor can be the rep for as many as 10-20 rodeos because in lots of places
there really is no rodeo committee )--a handful of producers and stock
contractors control the committee elections.
The fact of life is--THEY WOULD ANYWAY.
The newly elected President got removed from office
and the board appointed a three man steering committee to oversee operations
until things leveled out. Eventually
rodeo’s first Commissioner was hired.
I’m thinking the PRCA’s attorney applied for the position. In retrospect he would have probably been a
good choice. The transition from a
board run business to a management run business wasn’t easy. Many heated exchanges at the board
meetings. Elected people who had lots
of responsibility thrust upon them wanted to have some authority. (They actually do have some but seldom
choose to exercise it.)
The idea of the reorganization was to get a solid
business oriented board that would give PRCA management room to operate. Try to even up the voting structure so one
faction couldn’t control
the rodeo business. Try to give newly elected people a chance to get some experience
before they got appointed to the big board.
While certainly not ideal, it has worked but mostly
because they had fewer board meetings (they used to meet at rodeos for 2-3 days
every couple of months ) and less interference with management. They hired good people and, after the first
couple of years, stayed out of their way.
Due to the first Commissioner and his staff plus the
lowering of the amount need to fill a permit form $2,500-to $1,000 the monetary
problems subsided. For nearly a decade
we had a steadily growing permit base many of which filled and became members. That was a financial windfall. More dues, fines, and fees. The Commissioner and his team also made
other improvements. The Hall of
Champions became not so big a money loser, we got some adjoining real-estate
back that had been lost, we had a four
million dollar Hall expansion paid for by contributions, the office got
enlarged, sponsorship relations on balance improved, the Sports News got
healthier ( look, subscribership, and advertising sales (i.e. became a profit center), more television, a USA Today NFR
issue----lots of good stuff.
That’s not to say there haven’t been disagreements
and that the board gets along. But when
you only meet for 4-5 hours every 4-5 months there isn’t much time to argue,
fight, screw with management ... or unfortunately do anything else. Meetings mostly entail listening to
management’s various reports, rubber stamping things they’ve done or want to
do, choking down a selection of fine
luncheon meats dumped off in the meeting room--then cutting out for the airport.
The new current Commisioner seems to be well liked,
adept in television, and has made many internal improvements in regard to
marketing, sponsor servicing, and promotion.
He has also produced TOURS which are conducive to selling sponsorships and
television rating increases. His pants
have been lengthened and his cowboy hat doesn’t look like it fell off a Border
Collie riding monkey. He seems to like
rodeo. Of course, you never know. I assume he is under constant duress
supplied by certain stock contractors and committee guys. I’d imagine that at times he has been a
little confused about who are the good guys and who are the bad guys-- or if
there actually WERE any good guys.... besides me--of course.
To have all that good business type stuff happen it
was NECESSARY for the board to stay the heck out of way. There also could be no waves on the rodeo
pond. Not even a ripple. But, for some reason it isn’t a very good
situation in regard to the board’s attitude even though the PRCA is doing well
due solely to management. The non
voting event reps feel like they should have a vote if they are going to do the
work and take the heat for basically nothing.
The independent directors have always been a political football to be
kicked around... whichever side controlled them--controlled the board. Some of them have been absolutely tortured
by the stock contractors and committees. Even today I’ve been told that lots of pressure is applied to them
and the contract personnel rep--by the stock contractor organization (they have
their own organization). In fact, one
committee rep on the big board is the general manager for that group. Some contestants have a problem with--but I
don’t. The committee directors and the
contractor directors have always voted the same on important issues
anyway. They are a block of FOUR
votes.
For several years the contestant directors felt like
the contractors and committees had the independent votes on their side on
anything important. It was a helpless
feeling. If they desired to SCREW
YOU--THEY COULD SCREW YOU. Over the
years, the committee and stock contractor reps have been older, more
experienced in rodeo and business, and better communicators. They knew how to line up their votes before
hand. Not only could they bond with
the independent directors who were older and had more in common with
them--they’d also make sure that people who they felt were sympathetic to their
side-- ran for the independent board positions. Once they had both the independents on their side they could
keep them on the board indefinitely--since they were appointees.
A few years ago the time-ees smartened-up and
convinced a couple of older business men timed eventers to take their votes on
the big board. Fight fire with
fire. It seemed to work (in my opinion)
but last year they ran one off one of them and the other is likely to replaced
by an event rep this year. Of course,
behind the scenes some contractors have been WORKING the event reps to make
sure the overthrow occurs. This
doesn’t just effect the timed events--it also effects the riding events. Guys who don’t have any idea how politics
work or knowledge of what has happened in the past--get elected... come blowing
in--often have their own agenda... vote against the other side of thearena ...
and screw things up for not only their event but the others, too. And then they are gone in two years. So what you end up with is just like
before the restructure-- new guys making the same mistakes year after
year. With the two sides of the arena
cutting each others cinch the contractors and committee directors who don’t
change much--have a field day. But, on
the other hand, since the board meets so infrequently (the non voting event
reps get to attend meetings but their chairs have the legs cut off)--the event
reps aren’t getting any experience anyway.
But now the contractors and committees feel like
they can’t control at least one of the two independent votes. (Actually, I think that both are good business
men--really good people who try to be objective. They have been a big plus.
It is a lousy position.) He
was a friend and business acquaintance of the timed event business man who got
replaced by an event rep. Has his own opinion. That is totally unacceptable.
They need to change the title to “DEPENDENT director”
What they point to is that one time he voted for
making the team roping event a standard event. It all happened in less than thirty seconds. The team roping rep made the motion, I
seconded it, the question was called for, and the board voted. Voted the motion down. The event rep knew they would, I knew they
would, and the new independent rep voted for it because he thought it ought to
be a standard event based on what he seen and heard in his first year of
directorship. If there would have been
any discussion at all--he probably woulda voted it down too.
Big Deal.
The rule comes up every year--gets voted down every year. The other timed event reps usually don’t even
support it. Most TR reps haven’t even
thought it was in their events best interest.
But a member always proposes it and the rep HAS TO make the motion. But the stock contractor and committee reps
just can’t put it behind them. Heck it
happened several years ago. To
them--he is a traitor who must be banished from the rodeo kingdom. They tried to get him off the board last
year... thought they had enough votes to do it... didn’t. They crapped in their own nest. Actually the board was deadlocked and even
though this is hard to believe-- Bob Logue traded my “sheepskin on the flank
rule” in exchange for them ending the deadlock. I was going to rescind it anyway.
Since the board seldom meets (which is good for
business) some board members feel detached--out of the loop. There is a great deal of animosity because
they believe that some other board members are IN the loop. Maybe even non board member’s are in the
loop. They don’t know what’s going
on. They have zero input in the direction
the Association is going.
Most have given up. It is easier to just say
“Hey, the other side controls the votes--we can’t DO anything”. I doubt that any board member knows much of
anything about PRCA business--which is really scary.
The committee and contractor directors do not feel
it is in their best interest to place their fate in the hands of two people who
have no stake in the rodeo business. I
think the Independant Directors would agree.
But rodeo has never been able to solve it’s problems without
conflict. Problems like slack,
turn-outs, equipment, and other stuff haven’t been successfully addressed. Nothing important in regard to day to day
rodeo--is happening or is likely to happen.
However, they reorganized in order to have NO WAVES on the rodeo pond
and now there aren’t any. The contestants and rodeo management( committees and
stock contractors) are at checkmate.
See.. ALL this is about CONTROL. It has been from the start--it still
is. And the reason is that lots of
people have big investments (money and careers) in rodeo. They need control for security
purposes. Whether they be contestants,
contractors, committees, or contract personnel directors--they need protection
for what they have and insurance that they’ll get their fair share of anything
new that develops.
What are they proposing? A 13 person board... 6 contestant s ( BB, SB, BR, CR, SW, TR/SR)...3 contractors.... 3
committee directors and 1 contract personnel.
No more independent directors. I’m guessing that the TR and SW would
either split a vote ( assuming it is allowable in Colorado law for non profit
organizations) or one would be on the board with a vote and the other one on
the board without a vote... or maybe not on the board at all.
HMMMM.
Sounds good. It is unacceptable
for the bull riding event to not have a vote on the current board when it is
the event most preferred by both on site and television audiences.
Add to that the fact that bull riders probably total
as many as the BB’s and SB’s COMBINED.
The event should ALWAYS have a vote.
Also, the horse events have alot more in common plus there is alot of
jealousy toward the bull riding due to PBR’s success. Under the present structure, the chance of the bull riding
event getting one of the two riding event voting positions isn’t very good.
I’m not on the board so I should vote YES. Or... maybe not.
See.... the problem is that the deciding vote would
lie with the 1 contract personnel director.
If push ever came to shove the contractors and committees could control
this vote. How?
The people that person represents WORK FOR
committees and stock contractors. They
can (and for the most part already do) control the Contract Personnel Council
which appoints the voting board member.
If that person voted against them--before the next board meeting he or
she would get replaced by the council. The reality of the matter is that whenever
you add an event to a rodeo or increase the numbers of contestants, the
committees and stock contractors have to make monetary and time
adjustments. Often times they’ll cut a
contract performer.
A person would have to be pretty stupid to vote for
that deal. On the other hand if they
can run off the one independent director
or somehow get a contestant director or two to cut his cinch--we could be
potentially be screwed forever.
But then again, for rodeo to grow (and possibly
survive ) some changes need to be made. Unless SOMEONE can control the
board--they’ll just keep neutralizing each other.
Few things are good for all the various parties...
at least initially. But do we really want the Stock Contractors and Committees
to have the hammer?
On the other hand--the bull riding event is entitled
to a vote on the big board.
What a dilemma....
Actually it isn’t.
I just remembered ..... I DON’T
HAVE A VOTE.