The end of the year means Las Vegas will begin its 10-day reign as the epicenter of the rodeo universe.

The National Finals Rodeo will begin Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center. It’s the 40th year the NFR will take place in Las Vegas. The city has hosted it every year since 1985, except for 2020 when it was in Arlington, Texas, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 10-day run will end Dec. 13. Nine world champions will be crowned. There are plenty of storylines going into the biggest rodeo of the year with the most money on the line.

Here are five things to watch:

1. Virus outbreak

One of the biggest storylines is the Equine Herpesvirus (EHV-1) outbreak that has infected horses across the Midwest and Southwest.

It has forced two events surrounding the NFR to be postponed, including

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