Helldorado days offers $1 million for cowboys

Professional rodeo will join the ranks of other major-league sports this week as the 64th annual Helldorado Days will offer the largest single cash prize in rodeo history -- $1 million -- for a bull ride.

But the money being put up for Saturday night's Million-Dollar Bull Ride at the Thomas & Mack Center is not the only factor that separates this event from other Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association events.

To claim the million-dollar prize, the qualifying cowboy must ride the one-ton animal for 12 seconds -- four seconds longer than in a standard PRCA-sanctioned event.

That may raise questions about the safety of such an event. But both the promoter of the Million-Dollar Bull Ride and a PRCA official downplayed the increased danger of a 12-second ride.

"It's unusual, but I haven't heard a complaint against it and we don't have a problem with it," Steve Fleming, director of communications for the PRCA, said of the 12-second ride. "Then again, it hasn't happened yet -- we'll have to wait and see what happens.

"Rodeo in itself is a very dangerous sport and the very nature of it dictates that anything beyond the norm would be even more dangerous. But we certainly don't have anything negative to say about it.

"In some ways, we look at this as a positive -- anything that will help a rodeo such as Helldorado be rejuvenated would be a positive."

And that, promoter Rick Kaufman readily admits, is exactly why Helldorado decided to offer the $1 million bonus.

"Helldorado has been a mainstay in the Las Vegas area for 64 years and it needs to grow, it needs to get bigger in order to stay afloat," Kaufman said. "We needed something exciting ... and a regular rodeo just won't cut it anymore.

"With all the new residents in town, a lot of people don't really know what Helldorado is. We had to come up with something spectacular so we came up with the largest single cash prize in rodeo history for the Million-Dollar Bull Ride."

While it remains to be seen if the bonus will attract more spectators to the struggling rodeo, it certainly is having the desired effect on the professional bull riding community.

"We've got the best cowboys in the world coming out -- they're all coming in to take a shot at the million dollars," Kaufman said, adding that the bonus will be a permanent part of future Helldorado rodeos.

"The cowboys can't wait -- they're beside themselves at the opportunity to make this kind of money."

Among the bull riders expected to chase the $1 million bonus are six-time World Champion All-Around Cowboy and 1993 World Bull Riding Champion Ty Murray and three-time World Bull Riding Champion Tuff Hedemen.

One of the reasons the Helldorado Days rodeo has struggled to draw fans in recent years, Kaufman said, is that some fans mistake the event for the National Finals Rodeo, which plays to sellout crowds at the T&M every December.

"We've had problems getting the message out to people because people get this confused with NFR and they think it's sold out. So they don't even try to get tickets," Kaufman said. "We're not sold out and we have plenty of seats for everybody."

While the prospect of a bull rider earning a $1 million payday for 12 seconds of work is attracting the attention of virtually every professional rodeo cowboy, Fleming said Kaufman's bonus money should be safe.

Kaufman is bringing in two of the top bucking bulls in the country -- Play Mate and Trick or Treat -- for Saturday's Million-Dollar ride. Fleming said those animals are as tough as they come.

"They're both as hard to ride as any bulls in the business," Fleming said. "They're not mean or rotten bulls, they're just really good bucking bulls. I don't know if I've ever seen anybody ride Trick or Treat -- he's really tough."

All four nights of the Helldorado Days rodeo will feature a bull riding event using PRCA stock. The winner of each night's go-round will have the opportunity to qualify for the Million-Dollar Bull Ride by taking an extra ride that night on an eliminator bull.

Kaufman said the eliminator bulls he has brought in this week have a "throw rate" of 98.5 percent at eight seconds.

If the cowboy successfully rides the eliminator bull, he will qualify for the Million Dollar Bull Ride. But that, Fleming said, will not be as easy as it sounds.

"Eliminator bulls tend to take care of business pretty quick," Fleming said. "A lot of times, if a guy is going to get bucked off an eliminator bull, it doesn't happen in seven and a half seconds, it's (usually) three seconds or two seconds."

And spending an additional four seconds on a bull for the chance to earn $1 million is something very few cowboys will resist.

"I don't think anybody would balk at 12 seconds any more than they would eight," Fleming said. "A lot of times, these guys feel like if you can get on for eight (seconds), for a million dollars you might as well try it for 12."

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