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State won't bid to host high school rodeo in 2012-13

Posted November 29, 2007 10:00 pm

Dana Heupel

The National High School Finals Rodeo probably won't be bringing any more bucks to the state capital - broncos or greenbacks.

State officials will not bid to host the rodeo at the Illinois State Fairgrounds for a fifth time, agriculture department spokesman Jeff Squibb said Friday.

However, Springfield tourism and city officials will try to change the minds of the state agriculture director and fair manager in a meeting scheduled for next Friday, said Tim Farley, executive director of the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Bids to host the event in 2012 and 2013 must be submitted in January.

"The decision has been made not to bid to bring the rodeo back," said Squibb. "The main reason is just simply the proximity of the rodeo to the start of the Illinois State Fair."

Both attractions were successful, "but it's an extremely difficult task to put on two events of that magnitude. The grounds staff of the department would no sooner have to take down the rodeo than they would have to turn around and put up the Illinois State Fair," Squibb said.

"It just created quite a bit of stress on everyone involved."

This year, fairgrounds crews began tearing down the rodeo fixtures on July 30, Squibb said. The state fair preview day was Aug. 9.

The national high school rodeo has been held in Springfield in 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2007.

Despite the agricultural officials' decision, "we're not out of the game yet," Farley said. Representatives of the tourism bureau, city government and other groups plan to talk to Illinois Agriculture Director Charles Hartke and fair manager Amy Bliefnick next Friday.

The rodeo has an estimated annual economic impact of $6 million to $7 million, Farley said. About 1,500 contestants visit the city for 10 days, along with their families and other observers.

The event creates "significant business for the city of Springfield," Farley said, as well as for other places the contestants visit or travel through on their way to and from the rodeo from all across the nation.

In the recent past, the rodeo has been scheduled in two-year blocks in Springfield, Farmington, N.M., and Gillette, Wyo. Bids must be submitted by the third week of January to host the 2012 and 2013 events, said Kent Sturman, executive director of the National High School Rodeo Association, which is based in Denver.

The rodeo finals will be in Farmington in 2008-2009 and Gillette in 2010-2011.

Squibb said Illinois' decision not to bid on the rodeo was based solely on the difficulty of staging the two events so closely together, not on staff or budget cuts or other financial reasons.

Sturman confirmed that state officials told him about the scheduling problems, but said they also indicated there might be financial problems.

"We're disappointed," Sturman said. "We enjoyed Springfield. It's a great facility and a great community and very supportive of the event.

"We'd like to come back."

Dana Heupel can be reached at (217) 788-1518 or dana.heupel@sj-r.com.

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