The effort put forth in this weblog is to establish & maintain communication with past contestants & future contestants who are similarly committed to quality team roping events that are run in a professional, honest, & timely manner. We have all attended a few of those team ropings where we put in quite a bit of money & place, only to win a tin can buckle and a little cash. We then spend the ride home trying to figure out exactly where our money went... Well, these ARE NOT those type of ropings. We, as producers, owe the ropers who are spending their hard earned money at our events a clear & concise explanation of EXACTLY where the payouts at our specific events go. R2R encourages contestants to come by and ask for a payout sheet from each numbered roping after that roping has completed; We will have the payout sheets all printed off for your review. Our objective is complete honesty; not the appearance of complete honesty. Try asking at other ropings you attend and see if they are willing to release the payout sheets to you. Most of them probably will; some will not...
We can tell you as producers that this small, but effective, action of making copies of the payout sheets is one of the easiest tasks in the office... We have nothing to hide & you have everything to gain - confidence in the fact that the payouts are correct & clarity as to exactly how they were distributed.
We have received many comments on the R2R Survey in regard to everything from the format to prizes to location. ALL of the survey results are available for viewing at our web site. Since this weblog is a sounding board, of sorts, we have decided to answer most of the comments here & now, so that other ropers that may have the same opinion can have their questions and/or comments answered. So the first one I have today is written by Idaho roper, Paul Dunn that is a USTRC #6 & over & a WTRC #5 & over, he writes: 'Your ropings are exceptional, but you should never give buckles, as an award, for second and beyond. Give coats,or something, that will keep your overhead down so you can pay back as much cash as possible to the ropers. Remember, cash is always what keeps ropers coming back!! Money available is what gets people coming back. Ropers won't come back if they are in a situation that is a hopeful break even. We too are trying to make this a profitable endeavor and if we lose money, time and again, because there is no money left in the pot after the awards are paid for, we don't go back. Anymore, there are so many options (World series, Wrangler Events, Etc.) that offer large cash payouts, there just isn't any appeal to ropings that don't pay well. Prizes are great, but are offered everywhere. Ropings that pay well are the biggest attraction!' This is exactly the kind of response we were hoping for when we came up with the idea for putting up the R2R Survey - honest & to the point comments. Off of this particular comment we made the changes to the 2010 Format to reflect exactly what is asked of us - making R2R Events the kind of events that YOU want. 2010 R2R Events have the #13, #12, & #10 CASH ropings - ALL with an 80% Payback for those who prefer only money. We mix up our prize line up throughout the course of the season to provide ropers who attend more than one event an opportunity at other awards like Carroll Company Trophy Jackets, Montana Silversmith Trophy Spurs, Pro Champion Trophy Bronc Halters, Pro Champion Trophy Tripping Collars & more. That way, if you are tearing up the competition at our events and winning cash & multiple awards, you will not be winning the same award twice. 70% Payback in Cash & Prizes will be the standard for our #9 ropings, as well as our #8 roping. Our cash payouts are based upon the number of teams attending - the more players, the larger the payouts. There is nothing more that we would like than to award huge cash payouts - and it will be done this year. Just look at the 'Example Payout' for the #10 Cash Roping that is the top of the Format Page. If you like our ropings, tell all of your roping buddies and bring them on out to an event. In order to keep up with the requests we receive from those ropers that are classified in the USTRC #3 to #4 and WTRC/ACTRA #1 to #2 range we will still be awarding buckles for 1st through 3rd place in the Average of the #8 roping & the #10 'SHOWCASE' roping at each event. Thanks & keep the requests coming!
