With that goal in mind, a number of things will be different about the rodeo this season, which is set to run every Saturday from June 6 to Aug. 29.
For one, the public won’t be able to interact with cowboys before the show in the fan zone, nor will children be invited to win prizes by catching a calf during the calf scramble.
Capacity is limited to 25%, which is 1,500 spectators, and Wheat said the organization is doing everything possible to comply with the protocol set by the Texas Department of State Health Services, with assigned seating in 6-foot “clumps.”
“Our seating protocols are socially distant,” he said. “The lines, they have marks on the floor for social distancing. The concessions and box offices where you buy food and buy tickets, there will be Plexiglas barriers. Staff will be wearing masks. There will be hand sanitizer stations pretty much anywhere you look in the arena itself."
Wheat admitted there are some elements of rodeo that make social distancing nearly impossible for the cowboys.
“Obviously with rodeo you need to have a couple hands dealing with 1,200-pound