PRCA Commissioner Stressman announces retirement
After
nearly nine years at the helm of the PRCA, Commissioner Karl Stressman
has announced that he will be retiring, effective Dec. 31, 2017.
Commissioner
Stressman has stewarded meteoric growth of the Professional Rodeo
Cowboys Association since 2008. Under his leadership, the organization
signed a record $175 million contract that keeps the Wrangler National
Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas through the year 2024.
Stressman
also played a major role in negotiating a television broadcast
agreement with CBS Sports Network through 2019; successfully protecting
the organization's rights to provide equal opportunity to all
association members, and not just a select few athletes; and accepting
fiduciary responsibility for generating substantial cash reserves for
the organization, while returning nearly 90 percent of all income
generated to benefit members and membership services.
"I
sat down in the Commissioner's chair for the first time in September
2008, and I made a promise to myself that I would give my very best
efforts each and every day to improve the sport of Professional Rodeo,"
Stressman said. "I made myself another promise that I would stay at the
PRCA as long as I enjoyed the job. Well, it's time to say goodbye! I
will be retiring at the end of 2017, after completing my 10th Wrangler
National Finals Rodeo as Commissioner of the PRCA."
Even
as he plans his departure, Stressman has put into place a future path
that will allow for the PRCA's top rodeos to gain even more prominence,
and for the PRCA membership to profit as the organization enters into
new digital content opportunities. Commissioner Stressman's iconic
leadership tenure stands as a landmark for professional rodeo and the
entire western industry.
"It
has been an amazing run, but certainly not without a few battle scars,"
he said. "It has been my privilege to have had the opportunity to serve
the members, our committees, our great sponsors and the best fans in
the sporting world. I thank you all for the opportunity! Long Live
Cowboys!"
~PRCA Media
~PRCA Media
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