I’m an all-hat-no-cattle kind of rodeo fan, a city kid who one week each fall pulls on a pair of boots and a tooled belt with a big buckle.

My great-uncle Curly was part of the last large livestock drive in Alberta in 1937, but the closest I ever got to the cattle biz was in high school and university when I used to help friends who grew up on ranches brand calves each spring.

Still, I love the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) and would hate to see Edmonton lose it. It’s a great spectator event that gives the whole city a fantastic buzz during the second week of November, not to mention a big boost to our economy.

Yet as much as I enjoy attending the CFR (steer wrestling is my favourite event), if keeping the event in town means Edmontonians being held hostage by rodeo organizers, then it may be time to let another city have a crack at it.

I hope it hasn’t come to that. But on Tuesday, as the March 1 deadline for a new multi-year hosting contract passed, at least the Edmonton side sounded pretty definitive.

The local negotiating committee led by Oilers Entertainment Group, the city and Northlands was all past-tense: The rodeo “was” a great event. It “had been” fun hosting it for the past 43 years. We “would have” liked to keep it, but it “no longer makes any sense to be negotiating the rodeo.”

Door slammed.

But has it been deadbolted?

From the other side, it doesn’t sound over, yet. The Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) said Wednesday it had “declined the latest CFR proposal put forward by the Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) and the city of Edmonton.” Unanimously.

But the CPRA made it sound like more of a free agent negotiating tactic than a done deal. They represent a superstar (in this case an event rather than an athlete) with a year left on its contract that has decided to go out onto the open market to see what its talents are worth.

And with no trade deadline or free agency start date, the CFR isn’t like an NHL or CFL player. It doesn’t have to wait until next year to start putting out feelers.

Maybe some other city will come back with a better deal. And then again maybe one won’t. No harm on the CPRA’s part in seeing just what kind of market there is.

So the rodeo may not be lost to Edmonton completely.

The CPRA has said it would welcome a proposal from Edmonton, if our city would still like to host the CFR. Let’s hope the city and OEG put in an application.

Their last offer to the CPRA before Tuesday’s deadline sounds very generous — a 44% increase in payments to the rodeo association, plus some other attractive sweeteners. Still it’s not worth breaking the bank to keep the rodeo here.

(The irony, of course, is that the CPRA may be using the same tactic to extract more from OEG that OEG uses to extract things like a new arena from the city: Gives us more or we’re outta here.)

Vancouver is said to be Edmonton’s chief rival — as if rodeo were a good fit with the West Coast vibe.

The CPRA for its part needs to keep in mind what a fan base it has in Alberta and the prairies, and that the excitement generated here may not be transportable over the Rockies.

Edmonton is both large enough to handle an event of this size, yet not so large the event gets swallowed up.

Remember, cowboys, it’s hard parking a pickup in all those smartcar stalls out on the coast.