Bareback riding at RodeoHouston, March 4-23.
Three bad-weather days kept the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo from trouncing last year’s all-time high attendance of 2,506,238, but taking into consideration the fact that the 2013 event was one day longer to accommodate a special George Strait concert, the rodeo still comes out ahead.
When compared with the same 20 days of last year’s RodeoHouston, said vice president and chief operating officer Leroy Shafer, attendance is up 4.9 percent, at 2,485,721.
“We’re looking at last year as an asterisk,” Shafer said. “The attendance would have been 2,369,992 without George.”
When compared against last year’s entire event, the 2014 attendance was down by .818 percent. However, the 2014 number for the March 4-23 rodeo also trumps the 2012 attendance of 2,257,970 handily by 10 percent, so Shafer noted that the event is still on the rise in Houston, which has seen significant growth because of the health of the natural gas and construction industries in recent years.
“We’ve been on a continual growth spurt since 2008,” Shafer said. “The 2008 economic downturn helped us. We saw real growth in 2009, when people stayed home. The economic future was uncertain and they didn’t take vacations to Vail and Cancun during spring break. We coined the term ‘staycation’ and we gained on that.”
Comparing this year’s event with last year’s without Strait, concert attendance was up 5.3 percent, at 1,377,416, compared with last year’s 1,308,288.
In discussing sellouts at NRG Stadium (formerly Reliant Stadium), which can accommodate 75,000-plus for standing-room-only shows, it is easier to mention the acts that did not fill the venue. Twelve of the 20 performances set all-time records and Shafer called the 5.3 concert attendance increase “a blow-away record.”
The Go Tejano Day featuring the acts Pesado and Banda MS was the No. 1 concert with an attendance of 75,224. The next 11 top acts, in order, were Maroon 5, 75,214; Luke Bryan, 75,078; Usher, 75,067; Blake Shelton, 75,054; Zac Brown Band, 75,011; Florida Georgia Line, 74,880; Keith Urban, 74,054; The Band Perry, 73,768; Hunter Hayes, 73,768; Selena Gomez, 73,397; and Jason Aldean, 72,088.
The rest of the acts all attracted more than 50,000 fans, the first time that has happened, Shafer noted. In order, those include Chris Young, 68,890; Jake Owen, 68,008; Robin Thicke, 61,191; Eli Young Band, 59,299; Easton Corbin, 58,784; Reba McEntire, 57,857; Brad Paisley, 56,569; and REO Speedwagon, 54,039.
Although it seems strange for McEntire and Paisley to be near the bottom of the list at an event such as the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, those numbers have more to do with the night those artists performed, Shafer said.
“Brad Paisley was on the opening Tuesday, Shafer said. “That’s a tough night. If Brad Paisley had been in the last week, he would have been a sellout.
“Another good example is Reba. Reba is our first Thursday. That’s what we call the ‘death trap.’ You can’t look at the ranking and say it’s the entertainers. It’s also the days they are on and weather can have an impact.”
Revenue from the rodeo/concerts was $41,043,902 and the gate admission revenue was $3,656,215 for a total of $44,700,177 in gate revenues, which, because of last year's Strait concert, is 19.42 percent lower than 2013. When compared with the 20 days last year without Strait, that figure is up about $2 million, Shafer said.
The budget for the rodeo/concert entertainers was $9.3 million, Shafer said, the same as last year.
“We didn’t bust it, I’ll tell you that,” Shafer said. “We came in somewhere under. That’s been our budget for the last three or four years.”
The average ticket price for the concerts was the same as last year, $28, and ranged from $20 in the lower level to $28 to $35 for club seats up to $200- and $300-tickets for the chute seats which buys the attendee a dinner, entrance to a liquor club with drink tickets, carnival rides, and a director’s chair they can take home, that allows them to sit down in the dirt for the concert after the rodeo.
Gate admission costs $10 for adults, $5 for ages 12 and under and free for 2 and under.
Value Day Wednesdays allowed senior citizens in for $5 and free for 13 and under.
“That gives grandma and grandpa a chance to bring the kids,” Shafer said. “That’s a convenient day for people.”
The total expense budget for the event was on par with last year’s, at $116.3 million, and Shafer projected a net after all expenses of about $12 million.
In spite of the attendance dip given the one less day of this year’s rodeo, Laveen, Ariz.-based Ray Cammack Shows was up 9.15 percent over last year. The gross revenue was $24,624,681 compared with last year’s $22,559,810.
The reason the carnival was up more than the attendance was due in part to the success of the carnival presale committee, Shafer said. The committee sold $6,031,280 worth of carnival tickets, up 18.52 percent over last year.
“They are a big volunteer committee,” Shafer added.
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo releases an itemized breakdown of the carnival grosses.
The ride and games increase of 4.52 percent – $10,155,231 – was in line with the attendance increase. Carnival food, separate from the food sold by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, grossed $8,438,170, an increase of 8.18 percent over last year.
“Per caps in other areas are up, so I think that goes along with Houston being red-hot,” Shafer said. “People have more money in their pocket. They are buying more houses, they are buying more discretionary things with their money and the rodeo is benefiting from that.”
Noncarnival food vendors grossed $8,765,186, up 9 percent over last year; and Aramark food and beverage in and around NRG Stadium grossed $16,924,789, up 10 percent over last year.
“When we add all the food and beverage together – the rodeo’s, the carnival’s, and Aramark at NRG Stadium, it grossed $34,128,144, compared to last year’s $30,682,450,” Shafer said.
“That’s up 11.23 percent. So food and beverage was up across the board.”
New carnival rides included the Insanity, the Big Bamboo, the Freestyle, a merry-go-round and the Sling Shot, an extreme thrill ride. The carnival does not do pay-one-price wristbands at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
“When you have pay-one-price, it’s because you have trouble getting people through the gates,” Shafer said.
Not surprisingly, considering Houston’s robust economy, sponsorships are up at RodeoHouston, by 14.1 percent over last year, to $16,132,234 in cash. One definite theme that runs through the sponsors' list is gas and oil companies – BP, National Oilwell Varco, TransCanada, Shell Oil Co., Statoil and Chevron, some in more than one capacity.
“They’re trying to gain employees,” Shafer said. “They are building major headquarters and we are benefiting from the fact that we are red-hot. And it’s not just the economy – the Houston Livestock Show is a destination.”
Next year’s dates will be March 3-22.
Interviewed for this article: Leroy Shafer, (832) 667-1000.
