A five day cold-front descended on Texas during San Antonio’s month long celebration of its western traditions. Despite this stretch of gelid precipitation, powerful gusts and chilly temps the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo sustained an attendance of 1.5 million, a turnout it has hovered within since 2023. It’s one of those events who’s present not only is thriving as before, but starting to inch above the pre-pandemic past.
“We’re still compiling the numbers,” said Chris Derby, Chief Marketing Officer, San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. “Overall we’re at comparable numbers. “We are doing more pre-sales, making them earlier and sustainable, shooting for the best. You can’t control the weather, a lot of that did include a Saturday, with rain and higher winds.”
Cowboy Cool
One of the largest events in North America, this Rodeo has been sustained and renewed by both multigenerational traditions and the hordes of newcomers making Texas their home. In fact, this year’s rodeo success seems a testament to the ongoing popularity of Cowboy Cool.
“It’s still that hot thing, Cowboy Cool,” said Derby. “Country music, the Yellowstone series, people enjoy the old traditional style. We have more than 7,000 volunteers, word of mouth has really spread. You see a lot of first timers with their boots and hats, it’s really neat to see how they’re adopting to what is hot right now.”
In other words, millennials and their young families, aging young adults. “The vibe was good, we had a lot of positive feedback. New generations love our mix of the traditional fair and outdoor festival with the Rodeo.”
He also noted that while revenue figures would not be available until May, steady spending indicated high consumer confidence. “Honestly, last year I feel they were holding back in the spending area. Maybe they are more confident in the economy, but maybe the election was settled, so last year they weren’t as sure about the future as they were this year. Our sponsorships were up. We did over $12 million in scholarships. ”
Enclosed Rides
According to Derby, the rodeo extended its Wade Shows midway to include indoor rides. Working with Frank Zaitshik of Wade Shows, they transformed an Exhibit Hall into a Kiddie Land, with “4-5 rides. We had this area that was under used, so we maneuvered some things inside, to create an indoor event, with Frank’s rides, and it had food locations.”
The Wade Shows midway featured more than 40 rides, including two Ferris Wheels – a big wheel and a smaller one for children, according to Derby. “The midway revenue was down but only slightly, 3-4 percent, but that was because of the weather and they were the outdoor rides.”
The San Antonio Rodeo & Stock Show’s stellar concert line up, which featured back-to-back shows by Rodeo stalwart Keith Urban as well as other superstars as Scotty McCreery; LeAnn Rimes; Bellamy Brothers; Joe Nichols; Sammy Hagar; Nelly; Nate Smith and Dwight Yoakam, a San Antonio favorite who closed the show. “We had a dozen sellout concerts that were concerts and rodeo. Nelly did very well, we also got very lucky with Zach Top, who did a great show but that’s a case of someone who is big now but an up-and-coming act when we signed him.” Top’s Cold Beer & Country Music album, was released last year, but by 2025 was in the top five on the country music charts and in the top 40 of the Billboard All Genre charts.
In addition to a lucky signing of an artist on the brink of superstardom who reached superstar fandom come fair-time, the Rodeo also introduced a new concert concept in keeping with the cowboy ethos of the event — a retro country night, featuring Diamond Rio – where audience members were encouraged to cosplay in retro-cowboy gear – Stetson Hats, Wrangler Jeans, Cowboy Boots. ”We did one retro country music night with Diamond Rio. We showed old videos like old commercials from the 70s and 80s. It was a very cool vibe. Young people loved dressing up and feeling that old traditional rodeo feeling.”
Let’s Rodeo San Antonio
San Antonio tightened its grip on the reins of that feeling by selecting a favorite tagline that was a call-to-action while instantly invoking the cowboy community it celebrates – Let’s Rodeo San Antonio! The 2025 event was its 76th anniversary and much of the graphics from promotions and incentive merchandise to advertising and social media campaigns were “similar to the 75th graphics, we just dropped the 75 logo. It’s a good look and reminds people that we’re still here, still in the tradition of Rodeo.”
The marketing budget was comparable to 2024, “It was the same type of marketing budget, but we put more dollars into the carnival and fairgrounds. The fairgrounds and carnival really have different demographics than the rodeo.”
Derby estimated that 40 percent of advertising was online – the no longer not so “new” media – while the old media still holds on to the lion share of 60 percent. “Digital keeps up ticking,” he said. “But we do a lot of traditional television and radio, and a little more out-of-home advertising, especially in the art part.”
He added, “We did actually very good sales year, We had a 40 percent off December Flash Sale on carnival wristbands, it worked out really well. It was the lowest price of wristbands we offered. It was totally our biggest sales promotion.”
Derby noticed a shift in consumer preferences in the promotions ran this year. Not only were attendees more bargain prone, they responded higher to “percentages” off as opposed to dollars. “Dollar amounts are not want people care about, they want to see what is the percentage off, Percentage off ads outperformed any ads with dollar amounts.”
On the social media front, Derby focused on “organic content that is fun and family oriented. It’s fun conversation we have with our fans.”
Rodeo cuisine heavily leaned into the traditional fare at the more than 55 locations. “There was a new Elephant Ear filled with whipped cream that was very popular. Juicy Burgers and Turkey Legs are always big sellers.”
The rode also expanded its H-E-B Craft Beer tap room and added a second deck to its H-E-B Wine Garden and showcased a music lineup of nightly concerts by regional stars. “We just wanted to make it as inviting and open as possible. We improved our fairgrounds, the traffic flow of people is easier. It’s more convenient for people to walk around and do fun things. We have the Ag Education, horse stuff, and we have live stages of music. It’s all part of what makes the rodeo great and cowboy cool.”
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