This year the
Mesquite Championship Rodeo will be the first ticketed athletic event in the country. Neal Gay founded the rodeo in 1957 as a permanent attraction, as opposed to the traveling competitions that were popular at that time. Called “the original Western sport,” rodeo is the oldest sports franchise in the area. ESPN began broadcasting rodeo performances from the
Mesquite Championship Rodeo in the mid-1980s, and it’s now one of the most televised rodeos in the world. The Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association has nominated the event for Rodeo of the Year several times.