This year’s 67th-annual National Finals Rodeo marks the 40th time the biggest, best rodeo on the planet has been held at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. And when you look back to the $50,000 up for grabs at the first NFR in Dallas in 1959—remember, folks, the team roping, barrel racing and steer roping were held separately in Clayton, New Mexico, back then, and were worth another $11,858 combined—the $17.5 million total payoff at this year’s December 4-13 NFR is out of this world.
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Record Riches
The record payoff at the 2025 Wrangler NFR—which includes $13,501,505 for contestants and $4,050,451 for stock contractors—is part of the contract extension signed by the PRCA and Las Vegas Events in 2024 that guarantees the NFR staying in Vegas through 2035. Also, if your Vegas math isn’t mathing, the Finals moved from Oklahoma City to Cowboy Town in 1985, but was in 2020 held in Texas due to COVID shutting Vegas down. Per the terms of the current contract, the total NFR payoff will increase by $1 million through 2035. Every contestant receives a $10,000 qualifying bonus on back-number night, and that’s included in these numbers.
2025 NFR Go-Round Payout
1) $36,667.95 per man
2) $28,979.51
3) $21,882.48
4) $15,376.88
5) $9,462.70
6) $5,914.19
2025 NFR Average Payout
1) $94,035.54 per man
2) $76,292.99
3) $60,324.69
4) $44,356.39
5) $31,936.60
6) $23,065.32
7) $15,968.30
8) $8,871.28
2025 NFR Team Roping Partners
Here’s who’ll be backing in the box with who at this year’s NFR.
• Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira
• Tanner Tomlinson and Travis Graves
• Derrick Begay and Colter Todd
• Clint Summers and Jade Corkill
• Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord
• Clay Smith and Coleby Payne
• Andrew Ward and Jake Long
• Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp
• Cyle Denison and Lane Mitchell
• Dawson Graham and Dillon Graham
• Jake Smith and Douglas Rich
• Riley Minor and Brady Minor
• Luke Brown and Trey Yates
• Kolton Schmidt and Jonathan Torres
• Lightning Aguilera and Kaden Profili
Regular Season Champs
Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira finished strong at regular season’s end, and that $32,000 per man W at the Governor’s Cup in Sioux Falls resulted in Driggers’ sixth regular-season win and Nogueira’s seventh. Driggers and Nogueira won back-to-back world team roping titles together in 2021 and ’22, and Nogueira also grabbed the gold all-around buckle in 2016. Now it’s time to take on teams like the one that stole the show back-to-back in 2023 and ’24, as Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp are looking for a threepeat.
“I think the regular season is such an honor to win, because it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” said Driggers, who’ll be cashing the $7,500 regular-season heading bonus check. “It’s the all-night drives, the short scores, long scores, who can be the most versatile and be able to come through the slow times the fastest and the strongest. Everyone is so talented and ropes so good that it’s very tough out there, but it still comes down to who can be the most consistent throughout a season.”
“A lot of people say it’s harder to win the regular season than it is to win a world championship,” Nogueira added. “You drive all year, and rope different cattle in different setups. Both guys come out of one side of the box at Salinas, and the other side at Prescott. It’s short scores, long scores and all conditions during the regular season, so to come out on top so many times is pretty special.
“There were some challenges for me this year, between breaking my leg and having to make some horse changes. But going into the Finals close to the top with a chance to win a gold buckle is always what we’re shooting for. Every team has a chance to win it when we get there, and we’re excited to have a shot again.”
Returning Teams
Fate brought teams like Clay Smith and Coleby Payne, and Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord back together for a little roping reunion at this year’s NFR. Payne, whose horse Coon (Cut Off My Spots) is the 2025 Nutrena Heel Horse of the Year presented by AQHA, is pumped.
“I feel like Clay and I were a good team and rope good together,” Coleby said. “I think we can get right back to making the same run we always tried to make consistently. I feel good about roping with Clay at the Finals.
“Coon winning Horse of the Year is so exciting. We have a lot of history together, and since I was little, my dad and I have always tried to have the best horses we could have. That bronze might mean more to us than most people, because we’ve always worked hard to make sure I was mounted.”
Survivor’s Guilt
It happens about every year—one partner makes it, and the other comes up just short of the NFR cut. There are multiple examples again this year, including Lightning Aguilera qualifying in the 15th-place last hole on the heading side and his heeler, Wyatt Cox, finishing 17th among heelers behind 16th-place Nicky Northcott (who roped with Smith). Aguilera will head for Kaden Profili in Vegas, as Profili’s partner Brenten Hall finished 17th behind 16th-place Aaron Tsinigine on the heading side.
“Making the NFR is a dream come true, but to make it without Wyatt feels terrible,” Lightning said. “I know how much it means to him to make it, so not being able to finish it off makes me feel horrible. Wyatt ropes great, I enjoy roping with him and we’re roping together again next year.
“Kaden lives about 40 minutes from my house, so I’ve been around him a long time, and we’ve practiced and jackpotted together before any of this happened. We’re friends, and I’m excited to rope with him. I’m just going to worry about doing my part, because I know his’ll be taken care of.”
Oldest 2025 NFR Contestant
At 51, Luke Brown is the oldest contestant on the NFR roster this year. He’s also one of the wisest, having cracked the code on winning the NFR average three times already. The now 16-time NFR qualifier is roping with Trey Yates, who won the NFR average with Aaron Tsinigine at Trey’s first Finals in 2018. How heavy is that best-on-10 title weighing into their NFR game plan?
“That’s what I leave home for—to try and make 10 great runs and win what you win along the way while you’re at it,” said South Carolina native Brown. “I would love to win four. That’s a huge goal for me. It’s just about making the best runs you can without going too slow or making mistakes.
“In 2020, Joseph (Harrison) and I had a great NFR and came close to winning it all. We were glad for Colby (Lovell) and Paul (Eaves), who are great, great friends of ours, to win the world. I’ll never forget walking up the tunnel at AT&T, and Joseph saying there’s no better feeling than having a chance to win the world on Saturday night. Whether it’s a longshot or you have a good chance, that means you’ve had a great year and a great Finals. From there, whatever happens was meant to be. To have a great Finals and a chance to win the world come Saturday night is about all Trey and I can ask for.”
Heartbreak Hole
There is no give when it comes to the Top 15 cut. You’re either in or out, and close doesn’t count. Tsinigine, who won the world heading title in 2015, came up $850 short behind 15th-place Aguilera this year. And while Northcott blew the doors off of the 2025 rookie heeling race by more than double, he finished $643 behind 15th-place heeler Jonathan Torres. Looking back on regular-season runs that might have made the difference can mess with your mind. Master of the mind game Clay Cooper suggests you guys don’t go there.
“It’s all positive, really,” Champ said. “That’s the way you have to look at it—all the good things you did all year. I’ve always said that making the Finals or winning the world comes down to just a few situational things that happened throughout the year. You have that big body of work, then it comes down to a few situations—one short round, one bad steer, one leg, one broken barrier, one little bobble on a dally.
“You know when you’re in those situations that you need to execute. Sometimes it doesn’t go the way you want it to, and now here you are. Remember that it was a lot more positive than negative. Being just a whisker away from where you wanted to be can build a fire in your belly for next year. Old Spin is one of the best headers out there. He knows how to win, and I love roping with that guy. Nicky didn’t get into all the big winter rodeos, so it wasn’t exactly a level playing field. But he’s battle tested now, and knows he can do it. About all I have to say to those guys is, ‘Keep your heads down and keep swinging.’”
2025 NFR Team Roping Rookies
There are three NFR rookies on this year’s roster—Lane Mitchell will heel for Vegas sophomore Cyle Denison, and Canadian Brothers Graham, Dawson and Dillon, will also make their NFR debut. Pretty cool to see two sets of brothers in this year’s Finals field, with the return of Riley and Brady Minor.
“As kids, we would spend every single day watching the NFR team roping VHS and DVDs our parents would bring us home from Vegas, then go rope the Fast Lane and make as many runs as possible,” Dawson said. “This is everything we have always dreamed of, and I can’t wait to go run 10 steers in the yellow arena that we have practiced a million times for in the basement.”
“Making the NFR with my brother is a dream come true,” Dillon chimed in. “This is something we’ve been working hard to do since we were little kids, and to do it as brothers is something special. I wouldn’t want to be there with anyone else.”
Noticeably Absent
We’ll be missing a few familiar faces at the Finals this year. Two of them belong to Coleman Proctor and Logan Medlin—the guys who rode into Round 10 last year gunning at not only the world team roping titles, but the world all-around crown for Coleman, who came up just $675.74 shy behind Shad Mayfield on that one. After four-straight Finals together, this team of constant contenders finished 30th and 33rd in the world this year, respectively. You won’t get any excuses out of these two.
“I got away from what Speedy (Williams) always told me this year, and that’s good riding and good angles,” Coleman said. “In years past, Logan and I had such a fast run that we could make consistently. Our times were a little slower this year, and that led to trying to speed things up, which led to our consistency dropping. We had the same great partnership, horses and attitude, but it fell flat on its face this year.”
“Bottom line, we didn’t rope good enough to be there,” Medlin added matter-of-factly. “I’m not making any excuses, I don’t want any sympathy and I’m excited for the guys who made it. The teams who rope the best all year are the ones that get to rope there. Throughout the whole summer, we just knew we were going to turn it around at any time. But we never did. It wasn’t for lack of effort on both sides of the partnership, but it just didn’t happen. I’ve never taken the NFR for granted. It doesn’t make missing it any easier when this is how I provide for my family, but God’s got a plan.”
—TRJ—
