Indoor arena a good idea?
Official: Facility would draw more rodeos

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Independent correspondent

GALLUP — At least one other person in town thinks Gallup needs to have an indoor rodeo arena.

Dudley Byerley, who ramrods the Wrangler Jr. High Finals Rodeo, said he is still trying to get the city the contract to host the high school rodeo finals as well, but to do this the city would have to commit to building an indoor rodeo arena.

If the city could host the junior high and high school rodeos back to back, he said, it would have a tremendous financial impact on the community.

The Wrangler, which will be held from June 25 through July 4, is expecting to draw as many as 5,000 people — 1,000 contestants plus an average of four family members — and bring in somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million to motels and businesses in the city.

The city has been talking to the New Mexico Rodeo Council about also hosting the high school rodeo and if these can be held one after the other, Byerley estimated that it could bring in as much as $10 million annually to the city.

“That’s not bad for a town this size,” he said.

If the city were to build a indoor rodeo arena, it would have a major impact on the state rodeo committee’s decision on whom to award the high school event to after 2014, he said, adding that because cutting horses are so sensitive, an indoor arena is preferable to an outdoor arena.

When Harry Mendoza was running for mayor two years ago, he was promoting an indoor arena, but when studies indicated that it wasn’t feasible for a town this size, Mendoza scaled it down to just a convention center and dropped the indoor arena idea. But even that is on the back burner because of the lack of funding and support from other members of the city council.

Byerley would like to see the indoor arena get back on the front burner.

If handled properly, Byerley said he felt the arena would be a worthwhile project since it would be able to host the Wranger, the high school finals and a number of other rodeos and rodeo-type events during the year. It would also be able to host conventions and concerts.

But even if the city doesn’t do an indoor arena, it’s going to have to make some major improvements to Red Rock Park to retain the Wrangler on an indefinite basis.

“We will need to upgrade our existing campsites and increase the number of full service sites to 650,” he said.

The city currently has about that number of camp sites at the park, but about 300 of them have no permanent electricity. “There are some with water only and some run on a temporary electrical system we have to rent every year,” he said.

If the city really wants to retain the Wrangler on a permanent basis, he said, the city would have to construct another building to act as a trade show facility because the current convention center isn’t big enough to meet the demand. As a result, many vendors who would like to be a part of the event have to be turned away because of lack of space.

“This would allow us to use the existing building for what it was meant for — dances, meetings, awards, etc.” he said.