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jamisjockey wrote: Does it change anything if I don't consider it a professional sporting event?

Nope. Just like my decisions don't count with SWMBO.

Seriously, the rodeo is gonna be considered a professional sporting event. NASCAR is. NFL, NBA, NHL, etc. are. There are the questionable ones like Monster Trucks, Roller Derby, Professional Tiddlywinks competitions, etc., but they until there is case law, if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck.....

jamisjockey wrote:

Teamless wrote:Professional in the most common meaning (and no, I am not here to say that the law uses what is common) is if a person gets paid for winning at a sport type event.
Just look at NCAA Rules, they are even more strict, a person cannot be paid in money or gifts or other tangible items in lieu of money for any sport type event.
Basketball players, once they get paid, lose NCAA eligibility, football, etc etc.

But what do you consider a "sporting" event? I carried to Monster Jam. Is that a "sporting" event? What about professional wrestling?

Well, here is the catch. The dictionary defines Sport as: an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc. Athletic is defined as: of or pertaining to athletes; involving the use of physical skills or capabilities, as strength, agility, or stamina: athletic sports; athletic training.
And, Professional is defined as: following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain.

So, in defined terms, if there is a payout of money that supplies the individuals with their living and it is an athletic activity that would require the skill or physical prowess, then it could be used as an argument that it is a professional sporting activity.

I see that professional wrestling would be a physical activity and that is their profession. Also, NASCAR is considered a sport, so don't know why Monster Trucks and sprint car races, etc. that require skill be in that official definition. Rodeo is definitely a sport as it is the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) that they belong to. This could fit just about anything they wanted it to by the definition.

Now, the issue is, what was the intended meaning of a professional sporting event when the legislature wrote the bill? I don't think they were really intending for it to be that broad, and meant things like NFL, NBA, NHL, etc., but if you had a creative prosecutor that wanted to push the issue, I think they could build a case that Smack-down and Monster Jam were professional sporting events.