Peter Matthews
Times Square FWSSR
The Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo billboard looks strangely at home among yellow taxis and hot dog vendors.
I can attest there are two things in New York’s Times Square that might remind a Fort Worthian of home. First, they have cops on horseback — though this writer does wonder where such equines graze and whether their stables are on 5th Avenue. And second, there is a man in a cowboy hat, boots, and spurs who walks around singing country tunes on an acoustic guitar. But he’s also, otherwise, naked. The Naked Cowboy, they call him. And he’s from Ohio. Okay, we’ll call it one-and-a-half things.
But after receiving a text last night, in a somewhat shocking turn of events, we’re adding one more — albeit temporary — thing to this unlikely-to-grow list: a large billboard advertising the upcoming Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. That’s right, y’all, the city’s flagship annual event is on full blast in the epicenter of the concrete jungle.
After doing a little Google Mapping, the exact location of the ad is near the northeast corner of the Broadway and 44th Street intersection. If your knowledge of New York locations is based on retailers, it’s next to Old Navy and directly across the street from the Skechers store. So, if you happen to be in New York, you can cause a slight scene in Times Square pining for that selfie when the ad comes up on the carousel.
Brilliantly positioned between a McDonald’s ad featuring a 20-foot-tall John Cena in a yellow cardigan and an I Heart NY tourist trap retailer — think I bought a shot glass there once — the FWSSR billboard is a noteworthy juxtaposition. Even amid Times Square’s sensory overload and hoard of obnoxious advertisements vying for the attention of passersby, the FWSSR billboard sticks out in the best way possible.
According to market research and data collected by Times Square Alliance, 360,000 people pass through Times Square every day. And, yes, this does make it the world’s most visited tourist attraction. It’s also one of the most photographed places in the world, so such ads are gonna be on a whole lot of Instagram posts. In other words, ads in perpetuity.
Inevitably, we presume people will ask how much the billboard, which from this writer’s gauge is measuring 15 feet by 40 feet and likely switching through a bank of ads every 15 seconds, set the FWSSR back. According to Inspiria Outdoor Advertising, billboards can range from $5,000 to $25,000 for a one-to-three-day program, and there are other places that advertise billboard rentals as low as $300 per day or even $40 for a 15-second slot. Of course, this is all conjecture; we have no clue how much FWSSR spent on the advertisement, but we’re not talking Super Bowl money here. And New Yorkers and New York visitors might align with the Stock Show’s target demo more than you might expect. After all, Madison Square Garden currently hosts an annual PBR event — it just rolled through town last week selling over 44,000 tickets — and a recent New York Post headline reads “NYC Has Gone Country.”
So, who gets the credit for the Big Apple's overnight interest in cowboy culture? According to the article, it’s a combination of Bella Hadid going full cowgirl and Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone Effect,” with the popularity of the Paramount show creating ranch hand imitators among city dwellers. Both Hadid and Sheridan, I shouldn’t have to remind you, call Fort Worth home.
To that, I say, “Come on down, New Yorkers. First round of calf fries is on me.”
