The 2024 MLB Draft Invades Rattler Country
From bull riding to baseball, Cowtown Coliseum is the place to be this summer for Texas sports fans.
Major League Baseball is making its way to Fort Worth this weekend, with tens of thousands of sports fans projected to pay a visit to the Stockyards over the course of the 2024 MLB All-Star weekend. A crowd of roughly 2000 is expected to pack the Cowtown Coliseum for the draft alone, which will take place from July 14th – 16th and culminate with the 94th annual All-Star Game on Tuesday. The All-Star Game will be hosted at Globe Life Field by The Texas Rangers, who won the World Series in 2023.
From the bustle of the first railroads to the buzz of professional bull riding, and now to the legacy of major league baseball, plenty of excitement has passed through the Cowtown Coliseum’s storied halls in the nearly 120 years since its inception.
In the late 1800s, millions of cattle were driven through Fort Worth, earning the city the nickname “Cowtown” and establishing the area as an important hub of business in Texas. With the arrival of the railroad in 1876, the Union Stockyards were built to accommodate the newfound “shipping” method of transporting livestock, keeping Cowtown alive and advancing its status as a major player in the cattle market. Construction of the “Grand Coliseum” began in 1907, and was completed after only 88 working days. The Coliseum hosted its first event, the National Feeders and Breeders Show, in early 1908. Ten years later in 1918, it hosted the world’s first indoor rodeo.
In the decades since, the Coliseum has taken on a new name, many more rodeos, and countless other entertainment and sporting events, including the first-ever Professional Bull Riders (PBR) event in 1993. Today, Cowtown is host to competitive sports action far more frequently than actual cows — although the Stockyards still host a twice-daily cattle drive as an homage to its history (a treat that MLB fans of all backgrounds will be lucky to experience over the course of All-Star weekend!)
The Texas Rangers are not the only reigning world champions to call the D.F.W. area home, nor are they the only ones eager to welcome Texas sports fans to the Cowtown Coliseum. The Ariat Texas Rattlers will host Rattler Days, their hometown installment of the 2024 Camping Team World Series, in late September. Rattler Days will kick off with the Rattle Battle rattlesnake cooking competition on the evening of the 26th and continue with a rousing game against the Oklahoma Wildcatters inside the historic Coliseum.
The Cowtown Coliseum shares a special relationship with Professional Bull Riding, with a particularly special tie to the Ariat Texas Rattlers. The Coliseum was the home of the very first PBR event in 1993, the champion of which was none other than current Rattlers’ head coach Cody Lambert. The world champion was inducted into the Bull Riding Hall of Fame Museum (housed in the Coliseum) in 2023 — the same year he helped coach the Rattlers to a team world championship title. The Rattlers have won Rattler Days the past two years in a row and will be on the hunt for a third annual victory come this September.
The Ariat Texas Rattlers are sure to strike again throughout the course of the 2024 Camping World Team Series as they set out to defend their world championship. Fans can follow along on social media and watch live on Merit Street Media all season long, as well as get a piece of the action in person during Rattler Days this fall. Tickets for Rattler Days are available now on texasrattlers.com.