COLORADO SPRINGS — Colorado Springs' longest-standing tradition is reaching audiences beyond the Pikes Peak Region as it's being televised nationally.
The Cowboy Channel is featuring rodeos from all across the country for its "100 Rodeos in 100 Days," including Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo.
"Anytime a sport can get national recognition, and we can get the cowboys, cowgirls, bulls, and horses all under a national umbrella. Showcase what it's about, what they are, how they are, it's really special," said Matt Tarr. Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo Clown.
Tarr says he is excited to get the opportunity to showcase the sport to more people.
"To get people who haven't seen a rodeo or get them to tune into it. To understand how much history, everything that goes into it and behind it, it doesn't get any better for the western way of life," said Tarr.
"It just seems like we have our own honey hole here that the Colorado Springs community supports so well. Now that we're getting some national exposure, we're finding out there are people coming from all over now that they know about us. It's the hottest ticket in town, but we want to be a hot ticket for a large area," said Cory Wall, General Manager of Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo.
Wall says the national attention may help bring more people into the city and state.
"Maybe this can be a destination place for people who live outside of Colorado to where they can make a whole week vacation. This could be one of those spots because we have one of the beautiful states in the world," said Wall. "I think this is great for tourism."
He says it doesn't take much to televise the rodeo nationally.
"We have an in-house crew that we hired for the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo. The Cowboy Channel just takes our feed of what we are putting on the screens for our live attendance crowd," said Wall.
With more eyes on the sport, the crew hopes it brings more attention to the hard work done every year.
"These are athletes, not only the people but the animals. Hundreds of thousands of dollars go into these animals and the care of these animals. Just to see people understand that side of it is huge," said Tarr.
Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo signed a five-year agreement with the Cowboy Channel.
