PUEBLO, Colo (February 28, 2023) – Ahead of the second season of the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Team Series, the League has announced it will host three sanctioned rider Combines leading into a Combine Championship.
The PBR Team Series Combine: The Future of Bull Riding for the 2023 season will work toward the long-term objective of rider development, while allowing new riders and unrestricted free agents an opportunity to showcase their skills to Team Coaches and General Managers during the current Free Agency period and prior to the 2023 Draft to be held on May 17 during PBR World Finals in Fort Worth, TX.
The three-day Combines will be held in Archdale, NC on March 14 – 16; Pueblo, CO on March 28 – 30; Bowie, TX on April 25 – 27, culminating with the PBR Team Series Combine Championship at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, TX on the evening of April 27. Tickets for the championship event are now on sale through AXS only and can be purchased at cowtowncoliseum.com or the onsite box office.
PBR anticipates a minimum of 25 riders participating in both Carolina and Colorado and more than 50 riders in Texas. Up to a dozen of the top riders from each Combine will be invited to Fort Worth to compete for $15,000 and the title of becoming the first PBR Teams Combine Champion.
Team Coaches who will be on hand are: Arizona Ridge Riders’ Paulo Crimber and Colby Yates; Austin Gamblers’ Michael Gaffney; Carolina Cowboys’ Jerome Davis; Kansas City Outlaws’ J.W. Hart; Missouri Thunder’s Ross Coleman and Luke Snyder; Nashville Stampede’s Justin McBride; Oklahoma Freedom’s Cord McCoy; and Texas Rattlers’ Cody Lambert.
“Combines are important to help develop riders and give teams a chance to scout upcoming talent,”
sean gleason – commissioner and ceo of pbr
“In the inaugural Team Series Combine in 2022, 17 of the 54 riders who attended were drafted by Teams, and an additional five riders were signed as free agents during the 2022 Inaugural Season. We welcome serious riders looking for a great future with a team to register for the upcoming combines.” said Sean Gleason, Commissioner and CEO, PBR
Held during PBR’s 30th anniversary season, the 2023 PBR Team Series 11-event season begins at Cheyenne Frontier Days, on July 25-26 and culminates with the Team Series championship in Las Vegas on October 20-22 at T-Mobile Arena.
About the PBR Team Series
The PBR Team Series is an elite league featuring the world’s top bull riders competing on teams in five-on-five bull riding games during an 11-event season beginning in July and culminating in a team championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas October 20-22. During the 2023 season, the league’s second, each of the eight teams – Austin Gamblers of Austin, TX; Arizona Ridge Riders of Glendale, AZ; Carolina Cowboys of Greensboro, NC; Kanas City Outlaws of Kansas City, MO; Nashville Stampede of Nashville, TN; Oklahoma Freedom of Oklahoma City, OK; Missouri Thunder of Ridgedale, MO; and Texas Rattlers of Fort Worth, TX – will host a three-day homestand. There are also neutral-site games in Cheyenne, WY and Anaheim, CA.
The PBR Team Series, which launched in July 2022, builds on the existing structure of professional bull riding with the same basic rules for judging and scoring qualified 8-second bull rides. Events are staged in a tournament-style format with all teams competing in head-to-head matchups against a different opponent each day. Each game features five riders per team squaring off against another team. Full team rosters are comprised of seven riders on the Protected Roster and five riders on the Practice Roster. The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides among its riders is declared the winner of each game. The event winner is the team with the most game wins across an event, with a special bonus round designed as a tie-breaker to determine final event standings. All PBR Team Series events are carried on either the CBS Television Network, streaming live on Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, or RidePass on Pluto TV.
PBR is a subsidiary of IMG, a global leader in sports, fashion, events and media. For more information, visit PBR.com, or follow on Facebook at Facebook.com/PBR, Twitter at Twitter.com/PBR, and YouTube at YouTube.com/PBR.
PROVIDED COURTESY OF PBR TO TENN TEXAS MEDIA
