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It's Cowboy Week in Las Vegas

Set aside the Gucci loafers and slip on the cowboy boots. Stash the silk suits and bring out the blue jeans.

Las Vegas' annual flirtation with its past began Friday when the National Finals Rodeo kicked off a 10-day run to determine the world champions of professional rodeo.

The event, dubbed the World Series of rodeo competition, may seem like a stretch for a city known as the Gambling and Entertainment Capital of the World.

But Las Vegas is a town with western roots, and they sprout every December when the nation's top cowboys and cowgirls hit town, followed by legions of rodeo fans.

During Rodeo Week attire in businesses citywide switches from fancy duds to western wear as the city welcomes tens of thousands of visitors during what was once the slowest time of the year for its lifeblood tourism industry.

"The rodeo has really transformed the whole month of December," said Rob Powers, spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "Prior to the rodeo coming here, December was a period when hotels cut back on staffing, showrooms closed. Now it's a period of great activity."

Last year's rodeo drew some 40,000 visitors to the city who spent an estimated $38 million, exclusive of gambling.

"The rodeo crowd is a very free-spending crowd," Powers said. "The restaurants and hotels love to have the cowboys and their families here."

This year's NFR, the 42nd annual, will be offering big bucks to the top qualifiers. The 2000 prize money is a record $4.5 million, up from $4.42 million in 1999 and $50,000 when the first National Finals Rodeo was held at the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas in 1959.

The $4.5 million pay out at this year's NFR ranks between NASCAR's Brickyard 400, which offers $6.1 million in prize money, and golf's U.S. Open, which pays out $3.5 million.

The rodeo is again sold out, with attendance expected to top 175,000 at the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus. Another 9 million viewers are expected to watch the action on ESPN and ESPN2. The events run nightly Dec. 1-9, with the final go-round at 11:45 a.m. PST Sunday, Dec. 10.

The NFR features the top 15 contestants in each event of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the Women's Professional Rodeo Association.

The participants accumulate points throughout the year at 700 PRCA-sanctioned rodeos in 42 states and four Canadian provinces. The 2000 regular season ended Nov. 5 with the Grand National Rodeo in San Francisco.

Rodeo contestants earned more than $31 million last year, according to the PRCA, and more than 20 million viewers watched rodeo events on TV.

After 10 days of competition at the NFR, the contestants in each event with the highest earnings -- including money earned during the season and at the Finals -- are the world champions in their events.

World championships are awarded in bareback bronc riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, calf roping, barrel racing and bull riding.

The top money winner earns the coveted title of All-Around Cowboy. Some of the sentimental favorites at this year's rodeo include:

* Scott Johnston, a native of South Wales, was rookie of the year in 1996. He suffered a broken back in a private plane crash in California in November of 1998, but still managed to help pull other passengers to safety. He returned to the dangerous world of bronc riding competition against doctors' orders and climbed back to the top of the standings.

* Roy Cooper, who won his first world championship 24 years ago as a rookie, will be making his 20th -- and final -- appearance at the NFR after having his gall bladder removed with three weeks left in the season. Cooper, of Childress, Texas, has won eight National Finals titles and eight world championships in calf and steer roping. He plans to retire after the season.

* Charmayne James, of Justin, Texas, has broken numerous barrel racing records since winning her first world title at the age of 14. A crowd favorite and winner of 10 world championships, she's back atop the standings for the first time in several years.

The launch of the NFR in Dallas marked the fruition of a dream by longtime cowboy Casey Tibbs to bring together the world's greatest rodeo contestants and livestock to match.

After three years in Dallas, the NFR moved to the Los Angeles Coliseum, running there through 1964. In 1965 the event moved to Oklahoma City, where it remained through 1984. That year, Las Vegas officials made a successful pitch to move the event to the gambling mecca, upping the ante by offering to double the prize money to $1.79 million.

The success of the event in Las Vegas has generated a 250 percent increase in prize money the past 16 years, and a new contract that will keep the NFR here through at least 2007.

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