The first concert/rodeo combination features Lorrie Morgan and Terri Clark, Monday, March 2, 8 p.m. (CST), with live concerts following an hour presentation of the best rides from the first round of Houston Rodeo competition. An added attraction to this first show of the series is a special guest appearance by LeAnn Rimes via video from her performance on Sunday, Feb. 22. Clay Walker heats up the Astrodome stage for the second concert/rodeo combination on Friday, March 6, 8 p.m. (CST), after highlights from the second round of rodeo action.
The pay-per-view concept began in 1994 as an effort to extend the Show's reach, impact and promotion in the immediate Houston audience, Texas and the surrounding states. "There are a quarter of a million people who are not able to attend the shows because of the limited seating capacity of the Dome," said Leroy Shafer, assistant general manager, Marketing, Information and Presentations Department. "Pay-per-view allows those 250,000 people a chance to see a great performance that they otherwise would have missed due to limited seating or other reasons such as age, health and transportation." The series has gone from embracing Houston and its surrounding areas in 1994 to circling the world through the growth of cable and satellite technology, and the public's demand for quality family entertainment. "We are a very nice commodity for cable carriers," said Shafer. "The majority of pay-per-view events are commercially produced movies, wrestling or boxing. We provide exciting family entertainment without runaway athlete salaries and wealthy owners." According to Shafer, the combination of a great entertainment value and an educational charity tied to one event is a rare commodity. The pay-per-view providers value this and use this unique aspect to promote the Show to their family viewers. The greatest benefit to the viewer is pay-per-view's affordability. The suggested price is $14.95 for each of the concert/rodeo combinations, and $9.95 for the Houston Rodeo finals. "A family of four can get the entire pay-per-view package for less than the price of four rodeo tickets," said David Glodt, RODEOHOUSTON's pay-per-view television producer. "Viewers can invite as many people as they like to watch the event, which makes this a tremendous buy. In return, they receive a documentary of the rodeo from the first performance to the 20th performance, including excellent concerts with the latest camera equipment and Dolby Surround Sound audio." "You can't go to the video or music store and buy that kind of value," said Shafer. "Clay Walker put on an absolutely amazing performance at the Show last year. We can't sell the recording of a performance to an audience, but more people called and asked for that recording than you can believe. With pay-per-view, audiences are able to record the performances for themselves." A tremendous benefit of pay-per-view for the Show is the advertising cross promotion used to publicize the series. Commercial time and print ads are placed at television and radio stations, and in publications throughout the United States, Canada and parts of Latin America and Japan. Whether people purchase the pay-per-view packages or not, viewers and potential sponsors are made aware of the existence of the Show and its message of benefiting youth and supporting education. "Pay-per-view makes people around the world aware of the Show, and drives the demand for attendance and sponsorship," said Glodt. "We add new features and activities each year and having national recognition from sponsors via television exposure makes it much easier to get into a potential sponsor's door." An example of this is the first-time sponsorship of DIRECTV. "We were involved in the first year of DIRECTV's existence and now they have embraced the Show because of our support," said Shafer. "This year they have taken a huge step to become the AGVENTURE Plaza sponsor, one of our largest sponsorships." The future of the Show will involve wireless programming and whatever the newest technology will be. In 1997, the Show's first website debuted and established a strong presence on the Internet. It has remained a valuable publicity tool throughout the year because of the staff's efforts to continually update information. According to Shafer, the organization is currently on, and will stay on, the cutting edge of technology because whoever has the most publicity, access and demand will stay in business. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," said Shafer. "There are many other ways that the Show can be distributed electronically throughout the world." So, mosey up to the television for fast, live rodeo action, or saddle up as the Show gallops down the information superhighway. Who knows where you will see the world's greatest rodeo next.
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The series
wraps up on Sunday, March 8, 4 p.m. (CST). This show begins with rodeo action
from the third round of competition and culminates in the live broadcast
of the finals of the world's richest regular-season rodeo. These professional
athletes rope and ride for nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in
prize money before nearly 60,000 fans in the Dome.
