The 2017 RFD-TV’s The American Was Once Again A History Making Event!

Sunday February 19th, 2017 will forever go down in the history books as a day to remember as the RFD-TV’s The American took place for the third straight year.  This event is coined as the richest one-day rodeo in western sports history and kept up that tradition as over 3 million dollars was paid out in just five hours inside of the AT&T Cowboy Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.  Although the money was there the path to claim it was not easy for the nearly 100 contestants competing for it here this year!

The format for this event gives each and every cowboy and cowgirl here this year the opportunity to claim their share of the huge payout that is in front of them.  Each contestant will make one run down on the arena floor in the hopes of being one of the top for in their events to move to the shoot-out round which will tell us who will leave with the title of RFD-TV’s The American champion.  Below we will showcase each event winner and give you a chance to see what they have to say following their historic wins in Arlington, Texas!

Tim O’Connell Wins The 2017 RFD-TV’s The American

Photo Credit: Denise Hetland Photography

The bareback riders kicked off the 2017 RFD-TV’s The American event in grand style bringing 15 of the best bareback riders in the world came together to give the sold-out crowd all that they could handle on a Sunday afternoon.  All of the previous RFD-TV’s The American champions, along with past and current PRCA world champions, gave all that they had in hopes of claiming their share of the 2 million dollar payout that would be presented immediately follow the conclusion of this year’s event!

Once the round began the bucking horses showcased in the National Finals Rodeo were taking center stage here at AT&T Cowboy Stadium.  Watching the talent down on the arena floor earlier today was simply amazing.  Once things were all said and done Jake Vold, Kaycee Feild, Tim O’Connell and Orin Larson would advance to the shoot-out round where O’Connell would claim victory at the 2017 RF-TV’s The American!

Riley And Brady Minor Take The Event Win

Photo Credit: Rokin K Photo’s

The next set of cowboys to take center stage would be the fifteen teams in the team roping event.  When you talk about a loaded event full of cowboys that total millions of dollars between them you need to keep these rodeo athletes in mind.  Earlier today they went head to head to determine who would advance to this year’s shoot-out round to see who would be crowned champion and take home a huge paycheck for his efforts here on Sunday afternoon!

After all of the runs were completed the veterans took over the top four spots to advance to the shoot-out round keeping all the qualifying teams out of the running for the 1 million dollar bonus this year.  In an intense shoot-out round it would be four championship caliber teams that would fight until the end.  Once it all played out it would be the team of  Riley and Brady Minor who would take home the $100,000 prize and the title of RFD-TV’s The American Champions!

Clayton Hass Takes Home The Steer Wrestling Win

Photo Credit: Denise Hetland Photography

The big boys of the steer wrestling event were the next to take to the AT&T Stadium arena to see who would take home the $100,000 prize payout in front of a sold-out crowd.  The field of the fifteen elite rodeo athletes came into the event cool, calm and collected and ready to take home a pocket full of money.  To be able to advance to the shoot-out round they would have to better the others to earn one of the four top spots throughout the first round of tough competition.

Once all the dust settled and the times were calculated there would be only four remaining and moving on to the final round to determine who the champion would be.  Coming into the short round would be the booty shaking Luke Branquhino, J.D. Struxness, Stockton Graves and Clayton Hass.  Once the round began nerves set in and allowed Clayton Hass to rise to the top and take home the event title and the $100,000 payday that went along with his dominating performance.

Hot Sauce Cody DeMoss Reigns As Champion In 2017

Photo Credit: Denise Hetland

One of the crowd favorite events would be up next and caused the fans inside of AT&T Cowboy Stadium to dial up the energy level from the moment the first horse bucked out of the chute.  The saddle bronc riding list far exceeded any thoughts of what would be a performance not to miss.  Dominating the field are those family members of the Wright family along with a few other world champions and virtual newcomers that would try to make a name for themselves.

In the classic event of saddle bronc riding the field was split evenly between those vying for the 1 million dollar bonus and those competing for the $100,000 event payout.  Today’s field was one of the most stacked fields we have ever seen at one performance as Jacobs Crawley, Wade Sundell, Clay Elliott and Cody DeMoss made their way to the shoot-out round.  After all the excitement died down it would be the “Hot Sauce” man himself, Cody DeMoss, that would add American Champion to his resume and split the 1 million dollar bonus to earn $433,000 for his efforts here this Sunday afternoon.

Marty Yates Lights Up The Arena In The Tie-Down Roping

Photo Credit: Denise Hetland Photography

The fast hands and talented horses were next to share the spotlight as the cowboys of the tie-down roping event showcased their talents.  World champions, multi-time National Finals Rodeo go-round winners and young up and coming superstars were given the opportunity to compete along side of each other to see who would be the mightiest one of all.  Once the round concluded it would be two of the automatic qualifiers and two in contention for the one million dollar prize which added a new level of drama to the performance happening down on the arena floor.

Fan favorites Tuf Cooper and Marty Yates would be the two automatic qualifiers that would advance to the shoot-out round while two more gained a huge fan base earlier in the event.  Timber Moore and Cory Solomon would capture the hearts of those in attendance but that would not be enough to be crowned champion.  Tonight that man would be a young gun that we know as Marty Yates who has always been known as the gun slinger of the tie-down roping and that ended up working out for him earlier tonight.

Hailey Kinsel Takes Home Part Of The One Million Dollar Bonus

Photo Credit: Denise Hetland Photography

The ladies AND gentlemen of the Better Barrel Races were ready to make their way around the clover leaf pattern in the professional barrel racing event.  As the round began the times that were being laid down on the arena floor would be some of the fastest that we have seen inside of AT&T Cowboy Stadium in four years.  These contestants had to have near flawless runs to advance to the final shoot-out round to determine who would be the lucky barrel racer leaving Arlington, Texas with a huge paycheck and a story to tell for years to come.

Once the final four were determined (Hailey Kinsel, Lisa Lockhart, Sherry Cervi and Brandon Cullins), it was time to see if the one million dollar bonus would be split among more than one contestant.  Hailey Kinsel and Brandon Cullings were eligible for the bonus but had to get by two season veterans.  Each contestant went for broke as two knocked a barrel that left Hailey Kinsel the last lady to run for the million dollar bonus.  She did just what she needed to do and would end up claiming victory and her part of the million dollar bonus giving her $433,000 for the days efforts!

PRCA World Champion Sage Kimzey Takes Home The Win

Photo Credit: Denise Hetland Photography

In the final event of the night, the bad boys of professional bull riding would leave the fans inside of the AT&T Cowboy Stadium on the edge of their seats moving towards the shoot-out round.  Many of the top bull riders from many organizations came together to try and weather the storm atop some of the rankest bucking bulls traveling down the road today.  After all sixteen had their turn there were just enough qualified rides to fill out the field of four for the shoot-out round later in the evening.

As the 2017 RFD-TV’s The American was drawing closer to a close there were four bull riders that wanted to carve their names in the history book.  Much like other events, the bull riding gave two cowboys the chance to take a piece of the one million dollar bonus which is just what one of these men did.  PRCA World Champion Sage Kimzey would be that man and would earn $433,000 for his efforts after earning a solid 89.50 point score besting Claudio Marcelino Montanha Jr. by a mere half of a point.

The Rodeo Round Up team was in attendance all week long here in Texas and wanted to bring each and every one of you behind the scenes to see what kind of access we get while covering an event like this.  Earlier tonight we attended the champions press conference from AT&T Cowboy Stadium to see what each of these athletes had to say about another historic event.  We wanted to share this with you so we have included the entire press conference below so you can watch it for yourselves to see what they had to say!

After a historic weekend for the rodeo industry and the western lifestyle, it is time to reflect on what all has transpired here this week.  The RFD-TV’s The American exceeded paying out over 10 million dollars over the last four years with 3 million of that just this year alone.  The Professional Bull Riders, once again, brought the Iron Cowboy event here and gave the fans a new world number one, Eduardo Aparecido, after his dominating performance one night ago!

The Rodeo Round Up team have added a few amazing photographers to our list this year to cover even more of the action from Texas and the Iron Cowboy and RFD-TV’s The American events throughout the week.  First off is my amazing wife, Denise Hetland, and you can see all of her coverage from her facebook page by clicking the link HERE.  Secondly, Jenn Swalwell will be covering some of the action as well and you can see all of her photographs from Texas by clicking her facebook page link HERE.  Lastly, Jeana Wilson Kilcrease who shot for us in Oklahoma City and will continue to shoot throughout the year including here in Texas.  Follow all of her photographs by visiting her photography page by clicking the link HERE!

It is quite easy to follow all the breaking news and excitement with the Rodeo Round Up simply by copying this website into your favorites in your web browser for easy one-click access to event statistics. You can also like and follow us on Facebook here, or by liking and following us on Instagram at @rodeoroundup and on Twitter at @therodeoroundup.  You can have easy access to all of the video interviews Jason does from all the events across the country as well by simply clicking the link HERE to be transferred to the Rodeo Round Up’s Youtube channel as well! Jason has also made it easy for you to be a part of his interviews by opening up a listener comment line. If you have a question for a certain rodeo star simply call in and leave your name, where you are from, who the question is for and what your question is and he will do his best to get it answered for you during his interviews!


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