Canadian Finals Rodeo returning to longtime host Edmonton for 2024-26

Alberta's capital city has won a three-year contract to host the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) for three years at the home of the Edmonton Oilers.

This year's national professional rodeo championship is taking place Nov. 1-5 at Westerner Park in Red Deer, as it has since 2018.

Edmonton's successful bid represents a homecoming for the event, which had only been put on in Edmonton for 44 years until Red Deer won a 10-year host contract.

"Losing it in 2017 was – it felt like that we're losing part of our history, that we're losing part of our culture, and something that Edmontonians connect with," commented Edmonton's mayor, Amarjeet Sohi, after a celebratory news conference downtown on Tuesday.

"You miss watching the atmosphere at the Northlands Coliseum."

But, he acknowledged: "That was an old place. Here, [it's] going to be a beautiful new place."

Edmonton's new Rogers Place was an attractive feature, agreed Jeff Robson with the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association.

"We used to have 16,000 seats a night sold in Northlands Coliseum and I believe that's quite possible here," he told CTV News Edmonton.

Officials pose for a photo after they announced the Canadian Finals Rodeo returns to Edmonton in 2024. (CTV News Edmonton)

Going forward, the event will be held in October.

Four days long, it draws about 45,000 spectators, with over half coming from outside Edmonton.

Explore Edmonton, the city's tourism department, estimates hosting it for the next three years will have a $30-million impact between jobs, hotel bookings, and restaurant and bar activity.

Additionally, Sohi said it gives Edmonton the chance to show off its hosting capabilities.

"We are a municipality that is capable of holding international events and we have the expertise, we have the knowledge, and we have done it in the past, we are doing it now, and we can do it in the future."

But there was a "prospect" the rodeo wouldn't be held in Alberta at all for the first time in its history, Robson said, hinting of interest from other provinces.

"I think it put a little fuel under everybody to say, 'Hey, if we want to keep it in Alberta, this is what we have to do,'" he said.

"It was a very competitive bid process. CFR and having it back for the 50th [anniversary in 2024] – other communities wanted that," Explore Edmonton's CEO Traci Bednard said.

"I can tell you: I have never worked on an event where I have seen so many community and business and political leaders come together."

The deal includes a $4.5-million contribution from the Alberta government over three years.

'GREAT RESET'

Robson described operating in Red Deer as a "great reset" for the rodeo.

"You do one thing for 44 years, one place, you can't help but get a little bit stale. So I think for us, we learned a ton about the event, we tried to learn a ton about how to help produce the event, and I think – as Traci alluded to – we're going to bring that expertise now here and then everywhere we go in the future."

He called the premature ending of the Westerner Park contract "a collaborative agreement," adding the structure of the contract "was probably not in their favour."

Westerner Park's CEO Shelly Flint did not offer an explanation.

"Hosting the Canadian Finals Rodeo at Westerner Park has been a privilege and a source of immense pride for our organization. We are grateful for the memories created and the impact this event has had on our community," she said in a statement.

"We wholeheartedly convey our best wishes to the incoming hosts, confident that they will continue with the same ardour and devotion that Westerner Park has exemplified throughout our tenure."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Evan Kenny