POCATELLO — A decline in attendance during the 2012 Wrangler Million Dollar Silver Tour Rodeo, compared its 2011 debut, has organizers of the event considering changes when it comes to next year’s rodeo, one official said Sunday.

JD Johnston, chairman of the Pocatello Frontier Rodeo Association, which has organized the Wrangler rodeo during its first two years in the Gate City, said everything is under scrutiny when it comes to reassessing the rodeo and trying to come up with a product that will bring people in.

“Right now we are in the stages of looking over every single aspect of what it takes to put on a rodeo, every thing it takes to make income,” Johnston said. “We are trying to decide how we go about providing a rodeo that the fans will come out and see. That’s how we make our money is on attendance.”

For years, the Pocatello Frontier Rodeo Association organized the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo, which moved to Oklahoma City in 2011. It was a pinnacle event for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association but it was also one that Johnston says came with little control. The PRCA dictated pretty much every aspect of the premier event.

But with that event moving out of the state, the Pocatello Frontier Rodeo Association grabbed on to a new event, the Wrangler Million Dollar Silver Tour, one over which they would have far more control. That includes who they hire for every aspect of the event.

Johnston says that with that freedom they decided to bring in something the fans have been asking for, bull riding. The Pocatello Wrangler rodeo has kicked off both years on Wednesday evening with the PRCA Pro Rodeo Xtreme Bulls event, one the Pocatello group believed would bring in crowds from around the region.

It has not.

Because it has not, it could be something that is on the chopping block.

“We may have to drop the bull riding,” Johnston said. “It’s something the fans have been begging for years, but they just aren’t coming out for it. We may not drop it either, we haven’t decided.”

Uncertain just what the reason is for the lack of attendance, Johnston does suggest that one possibility is that the Xtreme Bulls isn’t a Professional Bull Riders event.

“Most people are in tuned to PBR and if they don’t see PBR, they don’t think the quality is going to be there,” he said. “What I tried to stress is that our stock provider is a six-time PBR champion. It’s the same bulls and the same competitors.”

Compounding the problem is that the bull riding event costs significant money to produce.

“Just that one night we put out $10,000 in prize money, then the cost of the animals and personnel,” Johnston said. “It adds up in a hurry and if people are not going to support it, then we have to take a hard look at what it is people really want.”

The financial struggles are nothing new, just deepening and continuing, Johnston said. Even when it was hosting the DNCFR, there were years that they struggled.

But he says they are also in a different situation with the Wrangler rodeo, a position in which they can make the changes needed to create a profitable event.

“We aren’t in a position of having to do certain things whether or not we make money,” Johnston said, referring to the restrictions that came with organizing the DNCFR.

Whatever change may come, and Johnston says it will take at least another 30 days before that’s all solidified, the goals of the Pocatello Frontier Rodeo Association remain the same.

“We want to keep professional rodeo in Pocatello. We want it to be a premier event and we want to bring in something people want to see,” he said. “But ultimately, we also have to be profitable. Our objective is to keep professional rodeo her in Pocatello, but we can’t afford to continue to lose money every year.”