South Dakota’s state sport receives unanimous support from the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources committee.
Senate Bill 63 authorizes $6 million in state general funds and $4 million in other state funding sources to support a new rodeo facility at South Dakota State University.
The $10 million total is requested by the Board of Regents for a year-round rodeo practice facility.
Sen. Erin Tobin spoke in support for the bill. She said supporting rodeo is important to future of the state.
“It is a beautiful South Dakota tradition and to own and take your horses with you, I cant imagine having an outdoor facility to do all of that. You know, if we really want to invest in the east side of the state invest in these ag kids, those FFA kids that want to stick around and participate in the sport of rodeo, I think this is a very valuable move forward for the state of South Dakota,” Tobin said.
Don Rickert is an SDSU graduate and helped form the SDSU Rodeo Coalition. He said the coalition started due to the lack of updates since 1950 to SDSU's outdoor rodeo practice arena.
The SDSU Rodeo Coalition's goal is to retain and attract young rodeo talent to the state.
"We will not keep South Dakota's top high school rodeo competitors from leaving South Dakota without a year-round facility. The loss of college-bound student rodeo athletes, many of whom will never return to South Dakota, needs to be prevented and SB 63 will help do that," Rickert said.
Sen. Randy Deibert questioned if the Board of Regents were requesting enough money due to inflation. Rickert answered and explained how the $10 Million would be used.
"It is not just the building because a $10 million building would be extravagant. I think the building would be less than half of the $10 million and the rest of the facilities, the ground work, plus a storage building for equipment and hay storage," Rickert said.
The committee advanced the bill with a do-pass recommendation to the joint appropriations committee.
