There's long been advertising sold on rodeo arena fences, and corporations like Wrangler and Dodge have long sponsored Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association events, but soon individual cowboys could become walking, or riding, billboards.
A new PRCA agency has been formed that will help cowboys get individual sponsorships, and bareback rider R.C. Patterson of Kim, Colo., is one of the first cowboys to enter the program. He's been a consultant to the new agency and is already receiving some financial help.Wednesday as he had the night's best score in bareback, 78, Patterson was wearing a shirt emblazoned with black-and-yellow patches of a bucking bronc, a symbol for the new agency.
Patterson says it's too new for many cowboys to be involved this year because corporate ad budgets have already been set, but several sponsors have expressed interest for next year. The logos will be limited in size by the PRCA, says Patterson, but individual deals are for whatever a cowboy can negotiate. That's where the agency comes in, since such negotiations aren't normally part of cowboy life.
- Linda Hamilton