The NFR Left Oklahoma 40 Years Ago, But Championship Rodeo Still Lives Here

Call it weird, but I'm one of those people who doesn't have cable TV. No streaming subscriptions, just YouTube and one of those HD Antennas... which sounds like a great idea until you get it and realize all of the stations you'd like to watch don't reach far enough into Lawton to actually watch... Channel 6 and even our local channel 7... Worthless. So, I consume pretty much all of my entertainment through YouTube, which ends up being more documentaries than I'd ever openly admit.

As a free movie offering to fill the void while cooking the other night, I watched 8 Seconds. The story of Oklahoma's own Lane Frost, just when rodeo was becoming big business. Because YouTube loves to populate suggestions based on what you watch, I ended up on some rodeo documentary into the evening. While I'm not what you'd call a "fan" of rodeo per se, it was fascinating how much Oklahoma kept showing up.

When The NFR Left Oklahoma

For instance, the National Finals Rodeo used to be in OKC every year. Or at least until the mid-80s when they moved it to Vegas. In hindsight, that tracks considering the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is in OKC... But even though pro rodeo traded the plains for the glitz and glamour of Vegas some 40 years ago, tomorrow's rodeo stars still come through Oklahoma first.

Curiosity got the best of me, and I started looking at the careers of some of the biggest names in rodeo and bull riding. At some point in their career, there's a Lazy E Arena story or result on their wiki page.

1984 was the year the NFR left OKC, but also the year the Lazy E opened, and lo and behold, Lane Frost was partly responsible for what the Lazy E has become. Not the motorsports complex and arenacross track during the winter months, but to get it up and going, the original Bullnanza was pitched, and the Lazy E was the perfect place to do it.

The Bullnanza Connection

The real story is quite the rabbit hole. Lane Frost. Tuff Hedeman. Ty Murray. All of those names aren't just part of rodeo history. Those are also some of the names who eventually broke bull riding away from the rest of the rodeo to become a professional sport of its own.

The PBR - AKA - Professional Bull Riders was the brainchild of those guys, and it's all an offshoot of that original event at the Lazy E.

Bullnanza gave riders a place to compete against each other.

The PBR eventually became the giant operation it is today, with bull riding selling out arenas and producing some of the most recognizable athletes in rodeo.

And there, again, is Oklahoma's Lazy E. The arena has hosted Bullnanza, major rodeo championships and almost all of the big rodeo names in the sport.

It's also where a new generation keeps coming through. The National Junior High Finals Rodeo is held at Lazy E, and the National High School Finals Rodeo is signed on to make Lazy E its home too.

It goes to show, you can take the National Finals Rodeo out of Oklahoma, but you can't take Oklahoma out of professional rodeo.