Two Texas Icons: How Dell Helps the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo Grow Its Mission

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The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo serves roughly 20,000 Texas youth each year, and the technology behind its operations directly shapes how much it can give back through scholarships and educational programs.

• With a modern, connected infrastructure in place along with the support of Dell Pro and Dell Rugged laptops, the rodeo runs faster check-ins, smoother auctions and more responsive operations across the grounds.

• The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo expanded its STEM and agricultural programs to include innovative agricultural technology, designed to support students and grow its mission for generations to come.

Since its founding in 1949, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo attracts 1.5 million attendees each year and has directed more than $292 million in scholarships, grants and educational support to students in agriculture across Texas, reaching roughly 20,000 students annually. As a fellow Texas company, Dell Technologies helps support that mission, powering the IT infrastructure behind more than 12,000 devices and one of the largest and most complex annual events in the state.

From reliable devices and secure infrastructure to responsive support, that relationship means smoother operations and more resources directed toward students.

Running a major event on a short clock

Putting on the rodeo each year is a high-intensity, short-duration operation. Thirty-five full-time employees work alongside more than 7,000 volunteers to coordinate livestock competitions, concerts, exhibitions and the logistics that come with hosting more than a million visitors in a matter of weeks.

The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo worked with Dell to enhance its environment to better optimize event logistics and outcomes. Digital check-in systems replaced manual workflows, reducing congestion in high-traffic areas. Updated displays in auction areas improved visibility for bidders, contributing to stronger engagement and better results for participating students. Real-time responsiveness lets staff adapt as conditions change, keeping activities moving throughout the event.

The technology behind the scenes

The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo keeps operations moving on a foundation of Dell devices and servers, from the livestock barn to the auction floor to the concert stage, while preparing for future demands with Dell Technologies.

Dell PowerEdge servers provide the foundation for core systems, handling the processing and coordination required for check-in, auctions and transaction activity across the venue — including nearly 200 terabytes of data moving across the grounds during the event — ensuring critical processes run consistently even as demand peaks.

Dell Pro AI PCs keep full-time staff moving without missing a beat, and built-in AI performance means the team isn’t waiting on slow tools for demanding tasks during peak hours. Dell Rugged devices extend that capability to the rodeo’s medical team, built to be adaptable and perform reliably wherever the event takes them. With Dell ProSupport Plus, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo’s technology is always ready, not just deployed, which prevents emergency costs through planned, predictable investments.

Across all of it, Dell devices are built with hardware-level security protection by default, which matters for a lean team managing operations at this scale without a dedicated IT security staff.

Built for what comes next

With a more reliable foundation in place, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo is positioned to grow its impact and expand what it offers students. Agriculture itself has evolved, with data systems, sensors and automation increasingly central to modern farm operations, and with it comes new opportunities for students to learn. Alongside traditional livestock and agricultural competitions, the rodeo now offers programs in agricultural robotics, STEM, drones and cybersecurity.

As the organization expands its reach, its technology foundation helps ensure that growth translates into greater opportunity for students, while preserving traditions that have defined the event for more than 75 years. Every transaction that runs smoothly and every auction that closes without delay moves more funding into the hands of the next generation of Texas students.

To see how Dell Technologies is helping organizations like yours do more with technology, explore more customer stories here.