Organized by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, held at the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, is the grand finale of the modern professional rodeo circuit. It has been held in Las Vegas since 1984. Known as the Super Bowl of Rodeo, this ten-day event is held each year in the first full week of December. Special dirt is used in rodeo, which is kept at the UNLV campus when not in use.

The 1st NFR was held in Dallas in 1959. Later, it was held in Los Angeles and Oklahoma City before coming to Las Vegas in 1984 with the help of Las Vegas visionary Benny Binion. The Wrangler NFR is one of the hottest tickets in town, and it has sold out its last 220 performances - over 20 years worth. The Wrangler National Finals Rodeo is the largest prize money rodeo in the world. In fact, it paid out over $5.5 million to contestants just last 2010. It is also the most prestigious rodeo, deciding which cowboys will get to wear the gold buckle as world champion each year. The "World All-Around Rodeo Champion Cowboy" title is also awarded at the end of the NFR to the highest-earning cowboy who has regularly competed in more than one event during the year.

The event puts the talents of the nation?s top cowboys and cowgirls to the test, competing for championship titles. Each of the ten days, you'll see the top money winners in each of seven different events compete in: bull riding, bareback riding, calf roping, saddle bronc riding, team roping, steer wrestling, and barrel racing. Past champions have included Freckles Brown - the first man to ride 1850-pound bull Tornado for the full eight seconds - and "Kid" Jim Rodriguez Sr. Only a handful of contestants win more than one type of event, but whatever it is you'll be sure to be sitting on the edge of your seat for these grueling, and often dangerous, competitions.

It is recommended to book tickets as soon as possible, as each year gets sold out pretty quickly. From over a million tickets applied for, less than 40,000 are distributed to the general public.