NASHVILLE (April 23, 2024) – PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Teams today announced that the league will hold the 2024 New Rider Draft in Nashville, Tennessee, at Nashville Live! on May 29.
During the New Rider Draft, which will get underway at 6:00 p.m. CDT, the league’s 10 teams, including Nashville’s own and the 2022 PBR Teams Champion Nashville Stampede, will be able to select from dozens of newly declared riders for the 2024 season, including a talent-packed field of young guns, led by teenage phenom John Crimber (Decatur, Texas), currently No. 2 in the 2024 PBR World Championship race whose father Paulo Crimber is Head Coach of the Florida Freedom holding the No. 1 pick, and fellow surging talents Clay Guiton (Cherryville, North Carolina) and Marco Rizzo (Quitman, Georgia).
The field also features top riders from the INFR (Indian National Finals Rodeo) including 2022 Champion Robbie Taylor Jr. (Chinle, Arizona) and 2023 Champion JaCauy Hale (Ganado, Arizona), who recently made waves in Unleash The Beast competition by winning a round in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Fan-favorite PBR World Finals and NFR (National Finals Rodeo) qualifier Brennon Eldred (Sulphur, Oklahoma) is also available in the 2024 New Rider Draft.
Additionally, many top talents from outside the United States are also available for selection. The Australian contingent is led by Donovan Rutherfurd (Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia), the 2022 APRA (Australian Professional Rodeo) Ariat National Finals Rodeo Champion, and Zane Hall (Athol, Queensland, Australia), the 2023 PBR Australia Rookie of the Year. The talent-packed class of Brazilians include the current Top 4-ranked riders in the country: Jose Alberto De Castro (Sao Jorge de Patrocinio, Brazil), Lucas Martins Costa (Frutal, Brazil), Yan Victor Santos Cunha (Assis Brasil, Brazil) and Andrei Scoparo (Assis Chateaubriand, Brazil). The Canadian contingent is anchored by Ashton Sahli (Red Deer, Alberta, Canada).
Riders are able to declare for the 2024 New Rider Draft until May 1.
“Heading into our league’s third season, there is a tremendous crop of talent available for teams to significantly improve their rosters,” said Sean Gleason, Commissioner and CEO, PBR. “Holding our draft in Nashville is a tribute to the Stampede’s ownership and a recognition of an avid fan base filling Bridgestone Arena in individual PBR competition for nearly two decades and now rallying behind the Stampede in our expanding teams league.”
“Bringing the 2024 New Rider Draft to Nashville is not only a testament to the powerful fanbase of the Nashville Stampede, but also a nod to the avid fan base for bull riding overall in Music City,” said Tina Battock, General Manager, Nashville Stampede. “We brought the PBR Teams Championship home to Nashville in 2022, and with the New Rider Draft on the horizon, we are eager to welcome new talents to our team who will be key in our quest to become the first-ever two-time PBR Teams World Champions this October.”
Via the 2024 New Rider Draft Lottery held following the 2024 Expansion Draft on April 10 in Oklahoma City, the Florida Freedom will hold the No. 1 overall pick in the New Rider Draft, in addition to their No. 6 overall pick in the first round. The Kansas City Outlaws will also have multiple picks in the first round of the 2024 New Rider Draft, including the No. 4, No. 8 and No. 10 selections.
The league’s two new teams entering the league’s third season, the Oklahoma Wildcatters and New York Mavericks, will have the No. 2 and No. 3 overall selections, respectively. The remaining teams with draft picks in the first round are: Carolina Cowboys – No. 5; Arizona Ridge Riders – No. 7; Texas Rattlers – No. 9.
The second-round selection order for the five round 2024 New Rider Draft is: No. 1 (No. 11 Overall) New York Mavericks; No. 2 (No. 12 Overall) Oklahoma Wildcatters; No. 3 (No. 13 Overall) Nashville Stampede; No. 4 (No. 14 Overall) Carolina Cowboys; No. 5 (No. 15 Overall) Missouri Thunder; No. 6 (No. 16 Overall) Florida Freedom; No. 7 (No. 17 Overall) Arizona Ridge Riders; No. 8 (No. 18 Overall) Kansas City Outlaws; No. 9 (No. 19 Overall) Texas Rattlers; No. 10 (No. 20 Overall) Carolina Cowboys.
The 2024 PBR Teams New Rider Draft will come following a trio of combines held by the league. The first was an open combine held in mid-March in Archdale, North Carolina, at the home of Carolina Cowboys Head Coach Jerome Davis.
Two invite-only combines remain on the schedule – at the ranch of two-time PBR World Champion and Oklahoma Wildcatters Head Coach J.B. Mauney in Stephenville, Texas, on April 30-May 1, and the home of PBR co-founder and Texas Rattlers Head Coach Cody Lambert on May 21-22 in Bowie, Texas.
The 2024 Combine Championship will be held at Cowtown Coliseum on May 23.
The PBR Teams 2024 New Rider Draft, which will also be broadcast live on Cowboy Channel and PBR RidePass on Pluto TV, will be preceded by a Rider Arrival Show beginning at 5:00 p.m. CDT when the existing team riders and draft prospects will make their way into Nashville Live!.
The New Rider Draft at Nashville Live! will be held inside the DraftKings Sports & Social space on the first level, while PBR Nashville, located upstairs on the second level, will host a VIP watch party featuring music, rider meet-and-greets, in addition to food and beverage.
The 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series will hold 12 regular-season events, including 10 team-hosted homestands and two neutral site events.
The expanded season will begin on July 12-14 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with the Nashville Stampede scheduled to return to Music City on August 16-18, for their third annual Stampede Days homestand, marking the fifth event of the new season. Tickets for Stampede Days are on sale now and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com and PBR.com, at the Bridgestone Arena Box Office, or by calling PBR customer service at 1-800-732-1727.
The 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series season will conclude with a reformatted four-day, progressive elimination Championship tournament in Las Vegas. Two teams will now need to ride their way into the title-deciding PBR Teams Championship at T-Mobile Arena from October 18-20 and two will go home when the four lowest-ranked teams (No. 7 to No. 10) face off at South Point Hotel & Casino in the one-day Ride-In Round on October 17.
For more information on the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series, and to purchase tickets to one of the league’s upcoming events, visit PBR.com.
For more information about Nashville Stampede, visit pbr.com/teams/stampede/, Nashville Stampede on Facebook, @NashvilleStampede on Instagram, or @Nash_Stampede on Twitter.
About the Nashville Stampede:
Nashville Stampede are based at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, where the team will hold its third Stampede Days homestand on August 16-18, 2024, the fifth event of the 12-event 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series regular season. The 2022 PBR Teams Champion Stampede are coached by two-time PBR World Champion Justin McBride. Under the leadership of General Manager Tina Battock, the Stampede are owned by Morris Communications Company, LLC (MCC), which is part of a privately held company with diversified holdings in media, real estate, property development and agribusiness. MCC is based in Augusta, Georgia. MCC’s current media holdings include Morris Media Network (MMN) which reaches millions of consumers with diversified content brands in print, digital, products and live events including Western Horseman, Barrel Horse News, Quarter Horse News, Road to the Horse, EquiStat and the National Barrel Horse Association. A portfolio of lifestyle publications and digital assets serve outdoor/sporting/travel enthusiasts with Alaska Magazine, Milepost, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Charlotte Magazine, Orlando Magazine, Savannah Magazine, Where Visitor publications and more, including the Nashville Stampede, one of eight founding teams in the new PBR Teams.
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 10 teams – Arizona Ridge Riders of Glendale, AZ; Austin Gamblers of Austin, TX; Carolina Cowboys of Greensboro, NC; Florida Freedom of Sunrise, FL; Kansas City Outlaws of Kansas City, MO; Nashville Stampede of Nashville, TN; New York Mavericks of Brooklyn, NY; OK; Oklahoma Wildcatters of Oklahoma City, OK; Missouri Thunder of Springfield, MO; and Texas Rattlers of Fort Worth, TX– will host a homestand. Two, three-day neutral-site events will also be held in Duluth, GA, and Anaheim, CA.
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.
About Nashville Live!:
Nashville Live! is a multi-level dining and entertainment destination in Nashville, TN. The 50,000-square-foot building features a different venue on each level including nationally acclaimed concepts DraftKings Sports & Social and PBR Cowboy Bar; an elevated rooftop experience, AVA Rooftop Bar; and 10,000-square-foot event space, The Gallery. Located on 2nd Avenue in the heart of downtown, Nashville Live! shows off unobstructed views of the Cumberland River, Nissan Stadium and downtown. For more information, please visit nashvillelivedowntown.com or follow on social @nashvillelivedowntown.
