The Canadian Finals Rodeo
is the national championship rodeo in Canada. The CFR
has been held in Edmonton, Alberta every year since 1974 and offers one of the richest purses in Canadian rodeo with C$1,000,000 awarded in 2004 and C$1,158,000 in 2006 and 2007. The 2008 CFR was held November 5-9. In 2006, 95,552 fans took in the rodeo action setting a new record for the highest ever overall attendance in CFR history.
Currently, the CFR features the 10 leading money-winners in each event throughout the Canadian rodeo season, as well as the first- and second-place finishers in each event during the last 10 rodeos of the Canadian Tour season. Each CFR event is contested over five days, featuring six rounds. Before 2006, only Canadian residents were eligible to compete in the CFR. [1]
From its inception through 2007, the CFR had a unique sudden-death format in which none of the prize money the competitors had earned during the season carried over to the finals. Competitors who finished in the first four places in each round of the CFR received points on a sliding scale from 40 points to 10 points. At the end of the rodeo, the top four places in "the average" (i.e., average time or score throughout all the rounds) also earned points on the same scale. The performers with the most points in each event were crowned Canadian champions.[
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In 2008, at the request of the competitors, the CFR adopted a format similar to that of the National Finals Rodeo in the United States. The competitors now carry over their money earnings during the Canadian season, and the money they earn during the CFR is added to their season total, with the leading money-winner in each event at the end of the CFR crowned as season champion. The contestants argued that the amount of money on offer at the CFR made it impossible to clinch a season title before the CFR, and that adopting an NFR-style format would encourage more entries at smaller late-season rodeos.[
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CANADIAN FINALS RODEO TICKETS
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