Rodeo Austin reports record attendance, warns facilities at Travis County Expo Center need upgrades

Glenn Allen Phillips, chief executive officer of Rodeo Austin, told the Austin Tourism Commission on June 11 that Rodeo Austin saw record attendance in March 2025 and plans to expand its year-round programming, but said aging facilities at the Travis County Expo Center limit growth.

"In 2025, which we just completed our year, we will award $3,700,000 to the youth of Texas," Phillips said, describing scholarship and junior livestock auction payouts that benefit nearly 10,000 student participants. He added the organization had its largest March attendance in history in 2025: "cowboy breakfast was 5,000. Barbecue was almost 51,000 in attendance and then the fair and rodeo was, you see that right at 444,000."

Why it matters: Rodeo Austin is a major local and regional draw that brings competitors and spectators from across Texas and beyond. Commissioners said better data on hotel nights and tax receipts would help measure the event's contribution to local tourism revenue.

Phillips said Rodeo Austin's competitive events drew participants from across Texas and beyond, citing older economic-impact work indicating a high share of out‑of‑area competitors. "There was an economic impact study that was conducted that showed that 75% of our competitors and our competitive events programs come from outside the Austin area," he said, adding that average hotel stays in earlier studies were about "2 and a half nights." He said Rodeo Austin is planning a new economic-impact study to update those figures.

The presentation emphasized year‑round expansion beyond the 16‑day March run: organizers have added robotics, public speaking, ag mechanics and other youth competitions, and are testing smaller events during the year. Phillips said the group is "roughly selling out 98% of our rodeo tickets we have available," and that while the rodeo arena seats about 6,000 (6,400 with standing room), outdoor fairground attractions still have room to grow: the organization's single largest day in 2025 topped roughly 48,000 visitors.

Phillips repeatedly flagged infrastructure problems at the Expo Center. "Our facilities out at the Travis County Expo Center are extremely outdated. There is a ton of work that needs to happen," he said, citing maintenance issues such as unreliable elevators and limited year‑round usability of buildings. He described ongoing discussions with the city and county and said Rodeo Austin has begun talks with potential private investors about possible public‑private partnerships.

Commissioners asked about jurisdiction and capacity. Commissioner Masters noted the land/building ownership is complex; Phillips confirmed "It is city owned land. It is county controlled buildings in terms of a long term lease," and said the county functions as the primary landlord for Rodeo Austin's operations. Commissioners asked Phillips whether substantial facility improvements would be required to reach his stated attendance goal of 1 million; Phillips said the current facility would not support that scale and that "it just won't be the massive growth until we have something done facility wise."

Ending: Commissioners thanked Rodeo Austin for the presentation and said they would follow up on requests for more recent economic‑impact and hotel‑tax data so the commission can better quantify the event's contribution to Austin tourism revenue.