The 2026 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which ran March 2-22, delivered a surge of economic activity to the region just as households contend with high gasoline prices and faltering stock markets.
This year’s festivities, including the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest from Feb. 26-28, drew more than 2.6 million visitors, according to data released by RodeoHouston Monday. While that is slighly less than last year’s total attendance, of nearly 2.74 million, several records were set at NRG Park over the past few weeks.
Zinger, this year’s Grand Champion Junior Market Steer, sold for $1.5 million at auction Saturday, shattering the record of a $1 million steer sale that was set in 2022 and repeated in 2024. Champion barrows, broilers, goats and lambs also set records at auction, the rodeo said, with total junior auction sales topping $35 million.
On Sunday, the event’s final night, country star Cody Johnson drew 80,203 fans to NRG stadium for a full-length set that set a new concert-only attendance record for the venue, edging the previous record, set by George Strait in 2019, by 95 people.
Article continues below this ad
CLOSING CONCERT: Cody Johnson closes Houston rodeo with Carrie Underwood, Carín León & NRG Stadium attendance record
Chris Boleman, president and CEO of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, highlighted another record number in a wrap-up issued Monday. This year’s rodeo relied on more than 36,000 volunteers over the course of the year — the largest volunteer base in rodeo history — as well as donors, sponsors and employees.
“We are deeply grateful to our community, whose enthusiasm and support make this iconic event possible year after year,” Boleman said.
All of this activity translates into hundreds of millions of dollars for the Houston economy each year. In 2025, according to the nonprofit’s data, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo had total operating revenues of nearly $240 million and operating expenses of about $194 million, including about $19.3 million in scholarships and educational grants. This year’s financial highlights will be available later this year, the rodeo said.
Article continues below this ad
RODEO RECORD: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s Grand Champion steer, Zinger, sells for a record $1.5 million
As dramatic as these numbers are, they only capture a portion of the economic activity that the rodeo spurs in Houston each year.
Every few years, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo commissions a broader economic impact analysis, which draws on-site interviews to get a more comprehensive picture of total spending from both locals and out-of-town visitors. In 2024, the analysis found, the rodeo generated total economic activity of $597 million.
That puts the rodeo in the same echelon as events such as the Super Bowl or major political conventions, which cities including Houston regularly compete to host.
Article continues below this ad
The rodeo is nearly a century old, tracing its roots to a 1931 lunch at which seven businessmen decided to create an event called the Houston Fat Stock Show and Livestock Exposition.
Their first expo, in 1932, drew 2,000 visitors and lost $2,800.