The Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center, home of the Reno Rodeo, is getting a little long in the tooth — and the rodeo and other events that take place there are growing too big for the venue.

That’s the consensus from those who use the facility and those who work there, and they’re hoping a recently commissioned study of the center will clearly show that.

Casinos, it turns out, aren’t the only entertainment venues threatened by increased competition.

Like gambling, livestock-related activities in general are becoming more mainstream in American culture, witnessed by the increasing number of events in Northern California, Las Vegas and across the country.

Even a Northeastern city such as Philadelphia, hardly a cow town, has booked rodeo dates — a Professional Bull Riders event is scheduled for Feb. 28 at the Wachovia Spectrum, which seats about 17,000.

In Redding, Calif., in the northern part of the state, an effort is under way to build the Redding Rodeo a new home, or place it in a larger one. Rodeo insiders say it’s a matter of when, not if.

In Vegas, Coast Casinos Inc. Chairman Michael Gaughan has expanded rodeo events at his resorts, and the rest of the city is hosting more as well.

None of this means the Reno Rodeo is in danger of losing its place, or fading in popularity as the “Wildest, Richest Rodeo in the West” — at least not in the near future. In fact, the Reno Rodeo, which takes place every June and is a staple of Northern Nevada culture, is bursting at the seams.

It’s the nation’s third-largest regular season rodeo in terms of prize money and has two national television contracts, one on ESPN and the other on the Outdoor Life Network. It also set attendance and earnings records last year.

“The problem is we’re landlocked,” said Alan Kingsley, the Reno Rodeo Association’s executive director. “We have to make a choice between stalls and parking.

“We just can’t grow too much because we think if we do that, it’ll add additional stalls, and if you put too many more stalls on the grounds, that takes away from parking.”

Instead, the rodeo is focusing on improving the quality of Reno’s longest-running special event. Officials are spending $100,000 to upgrade the lighting at the outdoor Reno Rodeo Arena, the same as at the University of Nevada, Reno’s Mackay Stadium.

This move is being made to accommodate national television coverage for an ESPN-televised Xtreme Bulls event prior to the rodeo and the rodeo’s championship go-round, broadcast on the Outdoor Life Network.

That means the Livestock Events Center, owned and operated by the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority, must improve its infrastructure in some fashion, whether it be a general overhaul, a replacement of the indoor facility, building a parking garage or some combination of measures.

RSCVA officials are thinking of doing just that — and have been for several years.

While the Reno Rodeo is an event that can be counted on to draw big crowds every year (the outdoor arena seats 9,000), it only lasts a little more than a week.

Rather, the other, smaller events — equine competitions (barrel races, cuttings and roping contests), motocross and monster truck bashes — are the activities in some danger of being lost to larger, more modern locations.

“People like to go to new facilities,” said Livestock Events Center General Manager John House. “If you’re looking at a market like Las Vegas that can just buy events then, yeah, there is a sense of urgency.

“And (RSCVA President/CEO Jeff Beckelman) shares that sense.”

Taking a look

The Convention Sports and Leisure company of Minneapolis is due to complete a study shortly of what should be done with the Events Center.

The study was commissioned by the RSCVA to update a 1998 report. Its cost, “not to exceed $25,000,” came out of the authority’s executive budget, House said.

Officials agree that the facility is aging and events have outgrown the center. They hope the study will make that clear.

“At one time, it was state-of-the-art,” said Bob Feist, owner/editor of Ropers Sports News in Lodi, Calif. and the producer of the Bob Feist Invitational, an annual one-day professional team roping event scheduled during Reno Rodeo week. “But the equestrian world today has just expanded terrifically in the last 10 to 15 years.”

Feist said the center simply has run out of space.

“It’s hard for them to accommodate some of the events,” he said. “The staff there is excellent. But I’m concerned for the continuation of the success of these events there.”

His own event, in its 27th year, was just renewed for another three — but he admits looking elsewhere.

“People are having to board their horses off property, or park their vehicles off property, which is a real inconvenience,” Feist said. “Times have changed. Today, some of these people are pulling in with 30- to 40-foot rigs and there’s just not room to accommodate them.”

He said the quality of the concessions is also a problem. Generally, his clients are far from poor and don’t appreciate offerings of hotdogs or “day-old burgers.”

So why, then, did he decide to stay on at the Livestock Events Center?

“I like Reno and the Reno Rodeo has been a great bunch to work with,” Feist said simply.

Nothing substantive in his contract was changed, he said, and no improvements to today’s problems were worked out.

Profits not expected

The Events Center, like all RSCVA properties, operates at a loss. The properties are not necessarily intended to make profits, but to provide venues for events that generate revenues throughout the community, officials said.

House, who has been with the center since taking an entry-level job eight years ago, said the facility maintains an annual operating deficit of $75,000 to $200,000, or an average of $160,000.

Recently released RSCVA figures from the past four years show an average loss of more than $221,000 at the center.

In fiscal 2003 (July 1, 2002 through June 30, 2003), statistics from the RSCVA’s Finance Department show the center generated $1.46 million in revenues, down more than $174,000 from the previous year.

Expenses were up from about $110,000, to $1.8 million, for a loss of almost $342,000.

“The market analysis is what’s going to drive any future budget needs or expansion,” House said. “Jeff (Beckelman) felt that it would be to our best interests to make sure we’re staying up with the trends.”

House called the study the most serious effort to date to gauge what needs to be done with the facility. But he said any concrete changes would be slow in coming, and even 2005 would be “probably too soon.”

“What we have done is interview our major clients and potential clients,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re taking care of our existing clients and attracting new clients, including larger horse shows.”

A list of potential funding sources for improvements also is part of the study.

Final interviews were being conducted with clients early this month, House said.

Among the facility’s clients are such annual shows as the Breeders Invitational (which debuted last year) and the Snaffle Bit Futurity (it returned in 1999), which are expected to continue growing. That presents the Events Center with more opportunities for cash flow than other events.

Still, equine events are subject to the weather, rendering them somewhat seasonal. If you think maneuvering your Suburu Outback over Donner Pass in January is harrowing, try it with a pick-up hauling prize horses in a trailer.

That means other events make use of the indoor arena’s space in the off months, such as the University of Nevada, Reno’s track team. The indoor arena seats 6,200.

Truck competitions, bicycle races, motorcycle events and collegiate wrestling also take place inside. House said that means the entire facility is idle only four or five weekends a year.

The rodeo — at cost

A priority at the center is the Reno Rodeo, which draws more than 1,000 competitors and has a regional economic impact of more than $34 million.

“The RSCVA’s management talks about improving the exhibitor facilities, and that certainly would help us,” said Kingsley, the rodeo’s executive director. “They have talked about another indoor arena, but I’d be very surprised if that happened, or if it came out in the report.

“We have additional interests in getting more events in the indoor arena (for the Reno Rodeo), but we’re maxed out on usage there.”

For starters, Kingsley said the center needs at least 1,000 horse stalls, up from 660. During the past few years, a few hundred temporary stalls typically have been trucked into the facility.

To deal with the space problems for parking and stalls, officials struck a deal with the Reno Hilton two years ago to use some of its parking spaces, although “the cowboys don’t like it,” he said.

Property at the university, across the street from the Events Center, is being considered for use.

Kingsley said the infrastructure problems shouldn’t threaten the rodeo.

But he added that he hopes the tourism agency will help out.

Reno Rodeo officials will spend about $100,000 on TV-quality lighting this year, and he would like the authority to “participate” in some of that expense.

Reinventing itself

“When the RSCVA took over management of this property from the Nevada State Fair, there were provisions in that agreement that the Reno Rodeo, the Nevada State Fair and the Nevada Junior Livestock Show were protected, and done at cost,” House explained.

“This is no different than a lot of cities that have state fairs and rodeos.”

An agreement from the 1980s about the definition of “at cost” — what each party provides — expired in 1998. House said negotiations went back and forth for several years, including conversations about upgrading the venue.

Last summer, a contract was finalized that is in effect through 2050.

“It outlines our relationship, and is basically the same agreement,” he said. “ ‘At cost’ typically means between $80,000 and $95,000.

“That’s what they reimburse us for, for all our costs, labor and benefits, electrical, trash removal, etc.”

The Reno Rodeo Association is a nonprofit enterprise, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

Through its charitable arm, the Reno Rodeo Foundation, it donates tens of thousands of dollars annually to regional youth organizations and scholarships.

This year, the rodeo’s format will be all prime time, meaning the finals will be on a Saturday night instead of in the heat of a Sunday afternoon.

For the rest of the year, the Livestock Events Center must continually reinvent itself to meet the changing demands and needs of its customers, officials said.

“The basic layout of the center is great,” House said. “The destination is what drives this; it’s probably one of the best facilities on the West Coast.

“We hear time and time again from people that Reno is like a vacation. There are plenty of things to do away from the rodeo.”