SUNRISE, Fla. (February 26, 2024) – The Florida Freedom and Carolina Cowboys, which compete in the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Teams bull riding league, today announced a trade sending Tate Pollmeier to the Carolina Cowboys in exchange for Conner Halverson and future considerations.
“We are pleased to have Conner join the Florida Freedom.
I have been following his young career and believe his talent will be additive to our impressive roster,”
Florida Freedom Head Coach Paulo Crimber
When PBR Teams launched in 2022, Halverson was selected in the fifth round of the league’s inaugural draft by the Austin Gamblers.
Halverson appeared in five games for the Gamblers, helping the team finish the regular season No. 1 in the league.
After beginning the 2023 season as a free agent, Halverson was signed by the Carolina Cowboys in late September, going 1-for-3 in his limited time with the team.
In individual competition, Halverson, currently No. 25 in the Unleash The Beast standings, is a two-time World Finals qualifier and in 2023 was crowned the PBR Canada Rookie of the Year following a breakout season in Canada, including logging the high-marked ride of the Canadian National Finals.
Halverson hit his stride at the start of the 2024 season, finishing a career-best fifth at the first Major of the year in New York City to briefly rise inside the Top 15 in the race for the 2024 PBR World Championship, glittering gold buckle and accompanying $1 million bonus.
The charismatic Nebraskan joins the Freedom, who competed in Oklahoma for the league’s first two seasons, ahead of their debut homestand in Florida at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise on Aug. 2-4.
Halverson will ride side-by-side his fellow riders in Caden Bunch, Alex Cerqueira, Elizmar Jeremias and Thiago Salgado, among others, under the leadership of 10-time PBR World Finals qualifier and Head Coach Paulo Crimber.
“We’re happy to welcome Tate Pollmeier to the Carolina Cowboys,”
“We would like to thank Connor Halverson for his time with the Carolina Cowboys and wish him the best.”
Carolina Cowboys General Manager Austin Dillon
Pollmeier also began his PBR Teams career as a fifth-round selection in the bull riding league’s inaugural Draft, picked by the Kansas City Outlaws.
After appearing in eight games for the Outlaws, Pollmeier was signed from Kansas City’s Reserve Roster to the then Oklahoma Freedom’s Protected Roster.
He concluded the league’s inaugural season going 2-for-7 for the Freedom as they finished fourth at the inaugural PBR Teams Championship.
Pollmeier returned to the Freedom’s roster in 2023, riding in three games before his season was cut short due to injury.
The 2023 campaign also marked Pollmeier’s rookie season in PBR’s premier individual competition series, the Unleash The Beast.
He qualified for his first World Finals and finished inside the Top 20 in the race for the World Championship, winning five elite tour rounds in the process.
Pollmeier will join the Cowboys who boast a roster including 2016 PBR World Champion Cooper Davis, 2022 PBR World Champion Daylon Swearingen and seven-time PRCA World Champion Sage Kimzey, under the leadership of PBR Co-Founder and Head Coach Jerome Davis.
The Carolina Cowboys will welcome the league for their third-annual PBR Cowboy Days Camping World Team Series homestand on Sept. 20-22 in Greensboro, North Carolina, at Greensboro Coliseum.
For more information about the Florida Freedom visit https://pbr.com/teams/florida-freedom, Florida Freedom on Facebook, @flfreedompbr on Instagram, or @FLFreedomPBR on Twitter.
For more information about the Carolina Cowboys, visit https://pbr.com/teams/carolina-cowboys, Carolina Cowboys on Facebook, @carolinacowboyspbr on Instagram, or @CARCowboysPBR on Twitter.
Stay tuned to PBR.com for more information on the Florida Freedom, Carolina Cowboys and the league’s six other teams, and the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series season.
ABOUT THE FLORIDA FREEDOM
The Florida Freedom is based at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, joining NHL team tenant the Florida Panthers hockey club.
The team, who competed in Oklahoma during the league’s first two seasons, will hold its inaugural Florida Freedom Days homestand on August 2-4.
Freedom Days will mark the third event of the 2024 regular season for the PBR Camping World Team Series.
The Florida Freedom is under the leadership of 10-time PBR World Finals qualifier and Head Coach Paulo Crimber, in addition to Owner and General Manager Heath Freeman.
For more information about the Florida Freedom visit https://pbr.com/teams/florida-freedom, Florida Freedom on Facebook, @flfreedompbr on Instagram, or @FLFreedomPBR on Twitter.
ABOUT THE CAROLINA COWBOYS
The Carolina Cowboys are based in Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., where the team will hold its third Cowboys Days homestand on September 22-24, 2024.
The Cowboys are coached by PBR co-founder Jerome Davis.
Under the leadership of General Manager Austin Dillon, the 2018 Daytona 500 Champion, the team is owned by Richard Childress and Jeff Broin.
From a one-man team in 1969, Richard Childress grew Richard Childress Racing (RCR) into one of the most-respected organizations in NASCAR, with nearly 400 team members supporting full-time operations in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series.
As a car owner, Childress, who was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2017, has earned more than 200 victories in NASCAR’s top-three national series, 16 championships, three Daytona 500 championships and three Brickyard 400 championships.
Away from the track, Childress is a businessman, philanthropist and conservationist – he loves wine, the outdoors, supporting the military, and investing in America’s youth.
Childress’ properties include the award-winning Childress Vineyards.
He sits on the board of directors of Growth Energy and holds an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Northwestern Ohio.
Entrepreneur and agriculturalist Broin is the founder and CEO of bioprocessing giant POET, the world’s largest biofuel producer.
Broin and RCR have a longstanding partnership through NASCAR and worked together to upgrade the league to 15% bioethanol.
ABOUT THE PBR CAMPING WORLD TEAM SERIES
The PBR Camping World Team Series is an elite league featuring the world’s top bull riders competing on teams in five-on-five games leading to a Team Championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
During the 2024 season, the league’s third, each of the teams – Austin Gamblers of Austin, TX; Arizona Ridge Riders of Glendale, AZ; Carolina Cowboys of Greensboro, NC; Florida Freedom of Sunrise, FL; Kansas City Outlaws of Kansas City, MO; Nashville Stampede of Nashville, TN; OK; Missouri Thunder of Ridgedale, MO; and Texas Rattlers of Fort Worth, TX– will host a homestand. Neutral-site games to be announced are planned as well.
PBR Teams, 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.
In events staged in a tournament-style format, all teams compete 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 Reserve riders.
The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides among its riders is declared the winner of each game.
All PBR Teams events are carried on either the CBS Television Network, streaming live on Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, or RidePass on Pluto TV.
PBR is part of Endeavor, a global sports and entertainment company.
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.
