Leaders of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) announced Monday that they’re preparing to move the organization from Colorado Springs to Cheyenne, passing over a competing proposal that called for the PRCA to relocate to Cody.

It wasn’t the news that Mike Darby, a Cody businessman who helped pitch the PRCA on the self-proclaimed “Rodeo Capital of the World,” had been hoping for.

“I would have [much rather] had it in Cody,” Darby said Tuesday, “but I’m glad Cheyenne got it rather than going somewhere else.”

While the PRCA had conversations with people from multiple cities — and received a proposal from Colorado Springs leaders to stay put — Cheyenne’s offer apparently won out.

As described in a PRCA news release, Cheyenne boosters offered to build a new campus for the organization’s headquarters, ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboys, with the economic development group Cheyenne LEADS pledging $15 million to the cause.

PRCA CEO Tom Glause is a longtime Wyomingite who served as the state’s insurance commissioner before joining the rodeo association; he called the relocation “a strategic decision that positions the PRCA for the future.”

The move is “anticipated” to take place in early 2029, but it’s not a done deal. The release says the PRCA Board of Directors approved a nonbinding agreement to “seriously consider” the relocation, and it’s contingent on the Wyoming Legislature providing funding. Lawmakers are being asked to spend $15 million worth of state tourism funds to help facilitate the PRCA’s move, and it’s anyone’s guess how the request will fare in the upcoming Budget Session.

Though a legislative committee endorsed the funding this month, state Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, has questioned the lack of transparency leading up to the request and mentioned that she has “often voted against corporate welfare.” Both she and Rep. Nina Webber, R-Cody, said on Facebook that there are multiple questions that need to be answered about the deal.

For his part, Gov. Mark Gordon has called on the Legislature to approve the $15 million. He was quoted in Monday’s PRCA release, cheering the organization’s potential move to a new Cheyenne campus that will be constructed near the intersection of interstates 25 and 80.

“There is no better place on Earth than right here in the Cowboy State for the PRCA to be headquartered,” Gordon said, noting the state’s deep ties to rodeo.

Cheyenne LEADS CEO Betsey Hale similarly called the capital city “a natural fit” for the PRCA.

“This announcement reflects both Wyoming’s legacy and its future,” Hale said in the PRCA release.

Cheyenne LEADS had the better part of a year to hone its proposal, with Hale telling Wyoming News Now that they first approached the PRCA last spring. When news of the potential Cheyenne move became public in November, Darby and other Cody boosters quickly began working on their own proposal. The effort grew to include the Cody Stampede Board, the City of Cody, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Park County, Forward Cody and the Park County Travel Council.

As one potential selling point, the Stampede Board offered to give the PRCA a chunk of land near Cody Stampede Park, which is a major tourism draw throughout the summer season. Cody’s pitch didn’t include any additional public funding, Darby said, “but we did feel that if there’s state money, that we ought to have an equal shot at it.”

He said Cody’s pitch was hamstrung by the relatively short timeline; for instance, they weren’t able to come up with a plan for accommodating the PRCA’s 80-plus employees who will be on the move. He guessed that Cheyenne “was way ahead of us on that.”

“If we would have had a few more months, I think we could have really put a great foot forward,” Darby said, “but we just didn’t have the time.”

The Wyoming Legislature will consider the $15 million for the PRCA during the upcoming Budget Session, which begins Feb. 9.