Rodeo is a conventional folk North American sport with influences from the past of Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) and American cowboys. Rodeo proceedings include the rough stock actions bull riding, bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc riding, the timed events steer wrestling, team roping, calf roping, the rarely seen steer roping, and women's barrel racing, breakaway roping, goat roping and pole winding. The participants include cowboys, cowgirls and also rodeo clowns or bull fighters.

The oldest and biggest sanctioning body of professional rodeo is the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) which sanctions approximately 700 rodeos annually. The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) is a recent association devoted to Bull Riding and puts on a number of events. There are also high school rodeos, amateur rodeos, and rodeos for women. Some colleges, such as the University of Montana have a rodeo team. The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association is accountable for the College National Rodeo Finals. Also obtainable is the National High School Rodeo friendship NHSRA. This association offers internationally spirited rodeo to high school students.

There are numerous rodeos held all through the United States and Canada. Among the more well-known are the Calgary Stampede; Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming; the National Western Stock Show in Denver; Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in Houston, Texas; and the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The NFR is held each December at the Thomas & Mack Center and features the top 15 competitors in terms of salary from each of the events. In 2003, it is predictable that attendance at the 10 days of the National Finals Rodeo will top more than 170,000 with another 9 million people watching the rodeo on television.

Rodeo first appeared as an display Olympic sport at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.