Dickies Arena is set for its grand opening on Saturday, Oct. 26. On Oct. 21, Trail Drive Management Corp. (TDMC), the not-for-profit manager of Dickies Arena, gave a preview of the new arena to members of the media. Aside from a new, state-of-the-art event space, Dickies Arena will also give the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo a chance to make some changes to the rodeo, increasing the purse to $1 million and offering new fan-friendly features.
We’re developing a new system that’s a bracket tournament style, so it’s a new fan friendly format,” said Brad Barnes,, president and general manager of the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. “So you’ll be able to follow it after each performance and know who’s moving on to the wildcard round or the semifinals or the finals. Which is something that we traditionally have not been able to do.
Everybody’s used to seeing a bracket progress, noted Matt Brockman, communications manager for the Stock Show. “ So I’m really hoping people will start getting engaged in the process. And you can come back and watch a fan favorite. You start wanting to see how this guy really does.”
Barnes said the contestants will pay virtually no entry fee.
“They’ll pay an entry fee, but we’re going to give them a way to earn it back while they’re here by signing autographs,” he said. “We’re going to develop a fan zone in here for interviews and autograph sessions and so forth, which we’ve not had in the past.”