By Hope Sickler

The National Finals Rodeo is a mere two months away, and there will be a few familiar faces missing this year at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on December 1-10. 

If you have been living in a hole, let me sum up what has gone down over the past tumultuous year in the world of professional rodeo.

Last winter, 55 of the world's top cowboys and cowgirls formed the Elite Rodeo Association in hopes of maintaining their pay scale and cutting down on the travel they saw in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the Women's Professional Rodeo Association. Competitors who were on the dusty trail season after season confessed they had grown exhausted traveling over 80 percent of the year.

The ERA is defined as the "League of Champions," where only the best in the industry compete against each other -- athletes and livestock included. However, the move to the new association hasn't always been a smooth one for competitors. The ERA had to bring its regular season to an abrupt end when it canceled its last three stops before the World Championship in Dallas on November 11-13.

A few of the top names who we would normally be seeing in Vegas include 23-time world champion Trevor Brazile, Cody Ohl, Speed Williams, Fred Whitfield, Tuf Cooper, Kaycee Field, and Fallon Taylor, all whom have previously won PRCA/WPRA world titles in Las Vegas at the NFR. 

Now, with the PRCA/WPRA missing some of their greatest athletes, the doors have been opened for other competitors who have been struggling to climb the professional ladder. Instead of crowd favorites such as Brazile, Field, and Taylor, the fans will see a host of fresh, new faces at the Thomas and Mack Center.

This year at the NFR, the first grand entry will look a little different -- but perhaps a new batch of world champions will emerge.