High rollers and celebrities wearing suits and flashing cash might be what Vegas is known for, but did you know that every year a herd of cowboys rustle their way into Las Vegas to compete in the sport of rodeo? Often referred to as the Superbowl of Rodeos, Las Vegas plays host each December to the rodeo contestants who qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

The 49th annual Wrangler National Finals Rodeo returns to the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas as the world’s richest and most prestigious rodeo, a culmination of dreams for some 120 cowboys and cowgirls that quality for this Last Rodeo. For the second year in a row, the Wrangler NFR will begin on a Thursday (December 6th) and end on a Saturday (December 15th), 2007.

Although rodeo has been around almost as long as dirt, the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR, formerly NFR before Wrangler sponsorship) has a more recent history. The first was held at the Dallas Fair Grounds in 1959, and since then this finale of rodeos has undergone some interesting changes.

The NFR is said to have been the brainchild of South Dakota’s legendary Casey Tibbs. The idea behind the first NFR was to bring together the world’s greatest rodeo athletes and the toughest and rankest livestock. Famous cowboy heroes competing at that rodeo were Tibbs, Jim Shoulders, Jack Buschbom, Jim Bynum and Dean Oliver. The first world championship winners claimed the first NFR purse of $50,000, and this first NFR set the standards for the high paced, fast pitched, rocking rodeos that we see today.

For many years, NFR flourished, spending a few years in L.A., and then twenty in Oklahoma City. Cowboys still worked toward the Last Rodeo, but the media and purses didn’t hit pay dirt (or should we say jackpot?) until 1985 when NFR moved to Las Vegas. The NFR always had a sense of appeal to those cowboy athletes, a culmination of their year of hard work, wrapped up into one neat little rodeo. With the move to Vegas, the appeal doubled – in the form of prize money to $1.8 million.

Many rodeos have come and gone since that first rodeo. Titles have been won and lost in less time than the 8-second buzzer. The excitement never dims at the Last Rodeo, the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, in Vegas. And the lights never go down even when the cowboys go home.

Each December, the top 15 contestants in bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronco riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing and bull riding qualify to compete at the Wrangler NFR. Qualification is based on the ProRodeo Cowboys World Standings. This year, the prize money for the participants will reach $5.5 million.

Even if you don’t make it to the Thomas & Mack Center for a rodeo performance, the Wrangler NFR transforms the look and feel of the “Entertainment Capital of the World” as thousands of rodeo enthusiasts decked out in Wrangler jeans, Justin boots and Resistol hats fill hotels, casinos, restaurants, shopping malls and showrooms. Many of the brightest stars in country music also find their way to Vegas during the Wrangler NFR.