Cody Johnson to host team roping, charity event

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Country music superstar Cody Johnson has announced a new roping event with his name on it in Texas. The first-ever CoJo Open Team Roping, along with amateur ropings and a charity gala, will be held in the climate-controlled Cadence Bank Center Arena in Belton, Texas, on Oct. 15-19.

“Roping is what I do to get away from the smoke and lights,” said Johnson, a former bull rider. “When I’m out there horseback with a rope in my hand, I just get to be who I am at the core, and that’s a cowboy.”

The CoJo, produced by Bob Feist Invitational owners Ullman Peterson Events, will award dually trucks, horse trailers, saddles, buckles and rifles to the open champions, plus custom Johnson-signed guitars in the other ropings.

“My goal is to build the biggest roping in the United States,” said the recording artist who’s won three CMT Music Awards and two CMA Awards, plus had two No. 1 singles and released an award-winning documentary around his song Dear Rodeo. “When I step out on stage, I don’t want to just play a show. I want it to be the best show you’ve ever seen. I want this roping to be the same way. This hat is real, this buckle is real, this music is real and this roping will be real, too.”

The inaugural CoJo Open qualifying rounds will be held Oct. 15 with 85% payback on fees of $750 per man, sending the top 60 teams on three to the finals on Oct. 19. This format resembles the one used for decades at the George Strait Team Roping Classic in San Antonio, which several ropers have told Johnson they’ve been missing.

“I wanted to respectfully pick up the torch,” Johnson said of that other singer who liked to rope. “George Strait is a hero of mine. I’ve met the man a few times, and he’s everything I thought he would be. If we’re talking about a guy in country music who’s stood up for cowboy, and made sure that cowboy was kept at the forefront of his songs, George Strait is my gold standard.”

The day after the preliminary rounds, Johnson will host the CoJo Golf Tournament — a four-man scramble for $1,000 per team — at the top-flight Mill Creek Country Club in nearby Salado, Texas. And the next day, expect an enter-twice 12.5 for $1,000 a man, followed up on the 18th by an enter-twice 10.5 Businessman’s roping with an 8.5 Incentive for $850 per man. 

That night, Johnson along with emcees Joe Beaver and Luke Branquinho will host a social hour followed by Champs For Charity — a gala complete with steak dinner, live and silent auctions and calcutta of the 60 final Open teams, wrapped up with an acoustic performance by Johnson. The gala will raise funds for two charities beloved by Cody and Brandi Johnson — the Texas-based Different Day Foundation for sex-trafficking victims and the Texas FFA. 

On Oct. 19 the grand finale, thanks to Bill Fick Ford, will kick off with the CoJo Celebrity Pro-Am Roping at 9 a.m. (enter twice for $500 a man, capped at 5/5 ropers). Then the final 60 teams of the Open will rope at 2 p.m. in a clean-slate three-header, followed by the CoJo After-Party at Schoepf’s BBQ in Belton.

Entries are open and tickets are on sale. Find details at CoJoTeamRoping.com.