Okay folks, remember me saying that I hope there was a response from the home office of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association and its Board of Directors. Well our wishes came true, sort of, as the PRCA home office issued a statement late last night that I have just received a few minutes ago from the headquarters themselves. Once you read it you all can start to draw your own conclusions and start to take sides as more information starts to come out. As you may already expect the two sides are very far apart on what actually happened and what is being demanded. Here is the official statement from the headquarters of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association and its Board of Directors:
PRCA Statement
January 7, 2014
A group of approximately 20 PRCA contestants called a meeting Jan. 3-4 in Waco, Texas, a day after requesting a special PRCA Board of Directors meeting. Upon 48 hours’ notice, the PRCA Board agreed to hold that special meeting via teleconference on Jan. 4. During the Jan. 4 Board meeting, the 11 contestants in attendance asked the PRCA Board to add and amend 18 bylaws related primarily to newly created contestant Board seats and contestant eligibility for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. The contestants discussed their proposed bylaw changes at length with the Board. The PRCA Board expressed concerns about the contestant demand that all 18 bylaw changes be voted on that same day, within 48 hours of the notice of the meeting, as that timing did not allow for the necessary vetting and research to be done in order to make legally sound, informed business decisions greatly affecting the entire membership. The contestants stated that their urgency for immediate answers was based upon their belief that a deadline of Jan. 6 existed for negotiating the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo contract. However, the PRCA Board was never informed of any Jan. 6 deadline, and was at the very same time receiving a conflicting counter-offer deadline of Jan. 14 from multiple members of the Las Vegas Events Board. In the interest of serving all 6,000-plus PRCA members and the entire sport of professional rodeo, the PRCA Board requested additional time to research and carefully consider all requests from the contestant group, but the 11 contestants denied that request.
PRCA Commissioner Karl Stressman and the PRCA Board of Directors at the 2013 WNFR
PRCA Commissioner Karl Stressman and the PRCA Board of Directors, in my mind, leave a lot to be said after this so-called statement. As I said earlier I was expecting to see both sides have completely different views on the “meeting” but I was not expecting the response from the PRCA. It seems to me that the cowboys and cowgirls are not wanting to hide anything about what, why and how they went about this and the reasonings behind it. On the other hand, the PRCA statement is very short and sweet and still refuses to talk about everything in detail. I believe that the PRCA is trying to figure out what to do since there is a whole lot riding on what happens within the next few weeks as this all plays out. I hope that both sides will take the time to figure out the best way to go about things from here on out. All in all, to say the very least, this will be an extremely important and demanding year for all those involved in this drama. Make sure to stay tuned to www.therodeoroundup.com for all late breaking news regarding this and all other issues throughout the year!!
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