Why the Sheridan WYO Rodeo Changed Its Name

On April 22, 2026, the Sheridan WYO Rodeo officially became the Sheridan WYO Rodeo and World Championship Indian Relay. The board's announcement was one sentence long, but the story behind it spans twenty-nine years of racing and four centuries of Plains horse culture. Here is what changed, why it changed, and what it means for anyone planning a trip to rodeo week.

What is the Sheridan WYO Rodeo's official name now?

The event's official name is the Sheridan WYO Rodeo and World Championship Indian Relay. The organizing board announced the change on April 22, 2026, writing simply: "The Sheridan WYO Rodeo has updated its name to Sheridan WYO Rodeo and World Championship Indian Relay." You will still hear locals — and plenty of signage — call it the WYO Rodeo, and both names refer to the same event, held every July at the Sheridan County Fairgrounds at 1753 Victoria St.

Why did the rodeo add "World Championship Indian Relay" to its name?

Because the relay races earned it. The board gave three reasons for the change: to honor the rodeo's long collaboration with Indian Relay and the Native American communities who race here, to recognize the explosive growth of the sport itself, and to acknowledge how much the races have given back to both the event and the town of Sheridan.

The numbers back that up. The World Championship Indian Relay Races began in Sheridan in 1997, and by the board's own account, 2025 brought record attendance and payouts exceeding $515,000 — alongside the addition of a women's relay division, a new competitive component that expanded who gets to race under the grandstand lights.

The rename is unusual in professional rodeo. PRCA rodeos add title sponsors to their names all the time; almost none rewrite their identity to elevate a co-headlining event. Sheridan did, and the reason is plain to anyone who has been in the stands: for a large share of the crowd, the relays are not the opening act. They are the reason people come.

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The relay is no longer billed as an attraction within the rodeo. It is half the name on the door.

— Wyo Stays Team

When did Indian Relay racing start in Sheridan?

The World Championship Indian Relay Races have run at the Sheridan WYO Rodeo since 1997 — nearly three decades of racing on the fairgrounds track. The sport itself is far older. According to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, relay racing traces back roughly 400 years, to the era when horses transformed life on the Great Plains — carried forward in traditions that different nations describe differently, from war games to buffalo-hunt relays to the capture of wild horses.

What Sheridan built in 1997 was a championship stage for that tradition: teams drawn from Plains nations, racing nightly in front of one of the largest rodeo crowds in Wyoming, for a world title that now shares the marquee.

Does the name change affect tickets, dates, or the schedule?

No. The event is the same, the venue is the same, and the format is the same: the relay races run each night before the PRCA rodeo performance, which is exactly why experienced visitors arrive early. Tickets are sold only through the official rodeo organization at sheridanwyorodeo.com. The 97th edition — confirmed by the Sheridan WYO Rodeo organizing committee — runs July 14–17, 2027, with rodeo week filling the surrounding days.

What the change does affect is how the event presents itself to the world. The relay is no longer billed as an attraction within the rodeo. It is half the name on the door.

What does the name change signal about the event's future?

Growth, mostly — and a bet on where that growth is coming from. Women's relay racing was added as a new division in 2025. Payouts hit records the same year. The board chose to formalize what the grandstands already knew: Sheridan's identity in the rodeo world is inseparable from Indian Relay, and the partnership between the event and the Native nations who race here is the thing that distinguishes Sheridan from every other stop on the PRCA calendar.

For visitors, the practical takeaway is simple. If you are planning a first trip to rodeo week, plan it around both halves of the name. Get to the fairgrounds before the rodeo performance starts, watch the relay teams take the track, and you will understand why the board rewrote the sign.

Sources: Sheridan WYO Rodeo organizing committee name-change announcement (April 22, 2026) and World Championship Indian Relay Races program information, sheridanwyorodeo.com; Buffalo Bill Center of the West, "Indian Relay: Extreme Sport of the Plains."