The new president of the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo takes charge for the first time during the organization’s signature event, which runs 23 days with activities ranging from rabbit shows, a midway with fun houses and a ferris wheel to bull riding — and everything in between.
The 130-year-old event contributes an estimated $115 million in economic impact to the region with many of those dollars finding their way to local restaurants and hotels. If the weather holds up, this year’s show is expected to draw more than 1 million visitors.
Beyond the event and its trademark rodeo, livestock exhibitions and family-friendly attractions is the bell cow — or lead cow — representing the city’s Western heritage and ties to its agricultural and ranching traditions.
It is a key component of the city’s “Where the West Begins” brand — no pun intended. Matt Carter, by the way, is no relation to the man who helped popularize that city slogan, former Fort Worth Star-Telegram owner, publisher and civic booster Amon G. Carter.
Carter, 48, knows only a few have strode the more than 100 acres of the stock show grounds in those leadership boots before him. The succession of stock show leaders has been short since 1946: Bob Watt, served from 1946 to 1977; Bob Watt Jr. from 1977 to 2010; Brad Barnes from 2010 to 2025; and, now, Carter.
When he was asked to step into Barnes’ boots, Carter felt it was an honor, but still a difficult decision.
“It’s one of those things,” he said. “I’ve known Mr. Watt, and then, of course, Brad had been here for so long. You just can’t even imagine that it would be anybody else, much less you, you know?”
After some deliberation, consultation with wife Kathryn, and prayer, he said it felt like “the right thing to do.”
Carter’s rural roots run as deep as the limestone, shale and granite bedrock foundation underpinning the Texas Panhandle. Born in Dalhart, his family operates ranching and farming interests in the Panhandle. To complete his Western heritage curriculum vitae, he also has a ranch in Jack County.
Fort Worth Stock Show history
Carter’s stock show memories date back to when he visited the show as an 8 year old, along with his father and grandfather.
After graduating high school in Amarillo, Carter’s compass pointed toward Texas Christian University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in finance, followed by a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington.
His interaction with the stock show continued even as he began his career in finance and real estate. Carter and other friends from a rural background would corral some cash and purchase a steer each year at the annual syndicate sale, the Junior Sale of Champions, which supports 4-H and FFA youth exhibitors at the show.
“Not one of the big ones, I can assure you, but we wanted to stay involved,” he said.
His first year as a volunteer was in 2009, shortly after he had joined Fine Line Inc., the real estate and development arm of the Bass family. He became involved in one of the biggest changes to take place at the stock show in the modern era: the development of Dickies Arena.
Carter worked with Fine Line and Trail Drive Management, the organization that helped build and now manages the arena. The 14,000-seat multipurpose center opened in 2019 and cost $540 million to build, via a public-private partnership where city contributions were capped at $225 million.
“There’s still a focus on making it a better experience for your ticket buyer,” he said. “Over at Will Rogers, we just had a couple old screens. At Dickies, we have ribbon boards and a giant center-hung screen. All these fun, neat toys that you get to use and play with to make the production better.”
In 2021, Carter resigned from his post as vice president for Fine Line to join the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo team as senior executive vice president. That shift from a downtown office to the stock show grounds, meant that jeans and boots became part of his de rigueur fashion for the office.
“I still wear a tie, but it’s a little more casual,” he said.
The move to Dickies also meant some increase in ticket prices, but Carter says the stock show still feels affordable, with some tickets priced at $30-$35.
However, finding that scalpers are buying those tickets and pricing them at $100 or more is a continual source of frustration, he said.
“It kind of makes you mad, when you’re trying to keep the prices low enough for a family to come get immersed in Western culture and heritage,” Carter said. “But we’re not alone. Other organizations haven’t been able to control the ticket resellers either.”
Slow change
While the stock show is generally reluctant to embrace change — entry applications were still being done on a 1980s-era IBM AS/400 minicomputer and dot-matrix printer until this year — there are several new additions and upgrades for visitors.
One addition this year is the introduction of a college rodeo. The FWSSR College Rodeo runs Feb. 2-4 and is sanctioned by the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association.
“College rodeo was always something that we’ve had our eyes on,” Carter said. “When the association realigned the conference that we’re in in this part of the country, it created the need for several new rodeos at the college level.”
The competition brings college students from across the Lone Star region to Will Rogers Coliseum, with a focus on developing the next generation of rodeo talent.
Also new this year will be the ProRodeo Rookie Rally at Dickies Arena. Rising competitors from the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association will compete for a $150,000 purse and a chance to qualify for the Pro Rodeo Tournament, which carries a $1.6 million purse.
“It really is helping give those rookies a little bit of an early season jump-start, because we’re one of the first rodeos in the rodeo season in one of the five biggest purses out there,” Carter said.
Longtime stock show attendees may see the most change when they enter the historic Will Rogers Coliseum. The 90-year-old building has undergone the first phase of a $50.5 million renovation. Those renovations include all-new electrical and heating and air conditioning upgrades to the Wyatt C. Hedrick-designed building that opened in 1936.
“It’s overall a much more open look,” Carter said. “People will notice the difference.
Patrons visiting the women’s restrooms may immediately notice one — much requested — change, he said.
“The restrooms were the No. 1 complaint from the patrons,” Carter said. “We’ve now gone from being underfixtured to overfixtured.”
For example, he said, the women’s restrooms now have hot water.
“There was hot water before,” he said, pausing for a beat. “It just rarely worked.”
While there were improvements, some of the work also revealed old details that had been covered up by previous upgrades.
“An awning on the west side of the coliseum, probably added in the 1950s, was removed,” said Matt Brockman, communications director for the show.
That revealed previous art deco details which will now be visible to patrons.
Carter said he is excited for one improvement that won’t be completed until after the show: The restoration of the original Will Rogers Coliseum roof structure’s aluminum ribs. Those will be added post-show he said.
“We really did try to maintain that original design,” Carter said. “We looked at the original architectural drawings and drew from that. We pulled that iconography from those original architectural components and tried to incorporate them into the renovation.”
Despite the changes, Carter knows the Will Rogers Coliseum will continue to maintain its status in the Western sports field.
“It is the Fenway Park, the Wrigley Field, the Soldier Field of the Western competitive sports world,” he said. “This is the granddaddy of them all and we felt a lot of responsibility to maintain it.”
While this will be Carter’s first rodeo as president of the stock show, he knows the interest in Western culture is higher, particularly in popular culture.
Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” and Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” album have seen to that, he notes.
“When they’re wearing boots in Manhattan, you know something’s up,” he said.
But it goes deeper than that, he says.
“During COVID and even after, rural land sales have increased,” Carter said. “So I think it may be a sticky kind of cultural shift.”
While there is plenty new to see at the stock show, Carter said the focus remains pretty basic: customer service.
That, he says, is key not only to running the complex three-week show, but of accurately conveying the values of the West.
“Our secret sauce is relationships with our patrons and our exhibitors and our competitors,” Carter said. “Technology does make it easier on everybody, but you lose that personal experience, that personal interaction. When you distill Western heritage and culture down, it’s a handshake and looking somebody in the eye, and if you tell them you’re going to do something, by gum, you’re going to do it. We can’t lose that. ”
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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