Professional Bull Riders

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Professional Bull Riders

Sport	Bull riding
Founded	1992
No. of competitors	Over 800 total, 45 in highest ranked tour
Country	United States Canada Mexico Brazil Australia
Current champion	Justin McBride
Official website	PBRNow.com

Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) is an international professional bull riding organization based in Pueblo, Colorado, USA. PBR events are televised on Versus, FOX, and NBC. More than 800 cowboys from the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Australia, and Mexico hold PBR memberships.

The organization began in 1992 through the efforts of 20 professional bull riders, who each contributed $1000. Since that time, the organization has grown to include four tours which collectively stage over 100 events a year. Prize money has exploded from $250,000 in 1994 to over $10 million in 2006.

The PBR's premier tour, the Built Ford Tough Series, includes 31 events across the country every year. Pyrotechnics, pulsating music and special effects open each event, and each features the top 45 riders in the world at the time. Riders attempt to stay on a bucking bull for eight seconds, and rides are judged based on both the rider's and the bull's performance. At the end of each event, the top 15 riders compete in the short round, or "short go"; the rider with the highest point total from the entire event becomes the winner.

On November 4, 2007, after a record setting eight event wins in the season, Justin McBride won his second title in three years.

Total viewership, including event attendees and the television audience, grew 51.93 percent between 2002 and 2004. In 2004, 16.4 million fans watched or attended a PBR event.

Randy Bernard runs the PBR as CEO.

The PBR publishes its own magazine, Pro Bull Rider, seven times a year.

1 PBR World Champions
2 PBR Rookies of the Year
3 Broadcast teams
4 Professional Bull Riders milestones
5 References
6 External links

[edit] PBR World Champions

The Professional Bull Riders World Finals have been held in Las Vegas since 1994.

World Champion Bull Riders

2007 - Justin McBride
2006 - Adriano Moraes
2005 - Justin McBride
2004 - Mike Lee
2003 - Chris Shivers
2002 - Ednei Caminhas
2001 - Adriano Moraes
2000 - Chris Shivers
1999 - Cody Hart
1998 - Troy Dunn
1997 - Michael Gaffney
1996 - Owen Washburn
1995 - Tuff Hedeman
1994 - Adriano Moraes

World Champion Bulls

2007 - Chicken on a Chain
2006 - Mossy Oak Mudslinger
2005 - Big Bucks
2004 - Little Yellow Jacket
2003 - Little Yellow Jacket
2002 - Little Yellow Jacket
2001 - Dillinger
2000 - Dillinger
1999 - Promise Land
1998 - Moody Blues
1997 - Panhandle Slim
1996 - Baby Face
1995 - Bodacious

[edit] PBR Rookies of the Year

From 1994-2001, the Rookie of the Year award was determined by who placed the highest out of all rookies in the BFTS tour's point standings. From 2002 on, the award is determined by which rookie wins the most money throughout the year.

2007 - Clayton Williams
2006 - J. B. Mauney
2005 - Kody Lostroh
2004 - Zack Brown
2003 - Jody Newberry
2002 - Dan Henricks
2001 - Luke Snyder
2000 - Jason Bennett
1999 - Mike White
1998 - Pete Hessman
1997 - Keith Adams
1996 - Ronny Kitchens
1995 - Bubba Dunn
1994 - J. W. Hart

[edit] Broadcast teams

The PBR has used different teams of broadcasters over the years as they have changed television stations.

1992-2001 (The Nashville/National Network):
- Commentators: Dan Miller, Don Gay, Tuff Hedeman (PBR World Finals, 1999-2001; select events in 2000)
- Behind the chutes: Pam Minick

2002-2003 (TNN, Outdoor Life Network):
- Commentators: Justin McKee (2002–present), Tuff Hedeman (2002–2004); Peter Young (select 2002 and 2003 broadcasts only), Larry Mahan (2003 only), Cody Lambert, Jerome Davis
- Behind the chutes: Kandice Kruger (2002 only), Michelle Beadle (2002 only), Leah Garcia (2003–present)

2003-present (OLN/Versus, NBC, FOX):
- Commentators: Brett Haber (OLN, 2003–2006), Justin McKee, Michael Gaffney (2005–present) (OLN), Ty Murray (2005–present), George Michael (NBC, 2003–2004), Chris Wragge (NBC, 2003–2004), Craig Hummer (OLN/VS, 2005–present), Kenny Rice (All NBC and select OLN broadcasts, 2005–present), Mike Adamle (FOX and select OLN broadcasts, 2006)
- Behind the chutes: Leah Garcia, Donna Brothers (NBC, 2005-present), Tava Smiley (select 2006 and 2007 broadcasts), Robin Albers (2007–present), Chris Wragge (NBC, 2003–2004), Robbie Floyd (NBC, 2003)

[edit] Professional Bull Riders milestones

2007 - The PBR announces that they will be partnering with Crave Entertainment and Oasys Mobile to produce games for the Wii, Xbox 360, Playstation 2, PSP, PC, and Mobile phone markets.^[1]
2007 - McBride becomes the third rider to win multiple PBR titles when he wins his second title in three years.

2007 - Tater Porter retires from bull riding at age 36 after the PBR Finals. He is now a stock contractor and the host of the annual Tater Porter Invitational in Orlando, Florida.

2007 - Justin McBride makes history in Columbus, Ohio, by riding Scene of the Crash for $200,000 as the AlphaTrade National Champion. This is now the richest ride in PBR history.

2007 - Luke Snyder breaks a record of consecutive events attended by attending his 198th straight event (which was at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut). The record was previously held by J.W. Hart, who attended 197 straight events before his streak was broken in 2003. As of April 2008, Snyder has yet to miss a PBR event, thus keeping his streak alive and growing.

2007 - The PBR opens up its new headquarters in Pueblo, Colorado, having moved there from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

2007 - Justin McBride breaks a PBR record by winning his seventh regular season event in Dallas, Texas. The previous record was six, which was held by Cody Hart in 1999 and tied by McBride in 2005. McBride later would finish the season with eight event wins, the last coming in Greensboro, North Carolina.

2007 - The PBR hosts its first-ever World Cup competition, which takes place at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre in Queensland, Australia. Five countries (USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia) each have teams of five riders in this format, with the highest team score winning the event title for their country. Team Brazil comes out victorious.

2007 - A New York investment firm, Spire Capital, purchases the majority of PBR shares. Most of the original founders sell off their interests for an amount rumored to be between $2 to 4 million each.

2007 - The PBR opens its season at Madison Square Garden, bringing a world-class bull-riding event to the famed New York venue for the first time in 50 years.

2006 - Adriano Moraes becomes the first man in PBR history to win three World Championships.

2006 - Legendary bull Mossy Oak Mudslinger retires. He is also elected World Champion Bull.

2006 - Legendary bullfighter Rob Smets retires at age 46.

2006 - The PBR opens offices in Australia, Brazil, and Mexico.

2005 - Former PBR World Champions Troy Dunn and Owen Washburn both retire after the PBR World Finals.

2005 - Seven-time ProRodeo Clown of the Year Flint Rasmussen signs a 5-year, $1 million deal to perform exclusively at PBR events.

2005 - Little Yellow Jacket, three-time PBR World Champion Bull, retires.

2004 - Mike Lee becomes the first man to win both the World Championship and the event title at the World Finals in Las Vegas.

2004 - Tuff Hedeman resigns as president; Ty Murray succeeds him.

2004 - "Mighty" Mike White wins the Ty Murray Invitational at Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the third consecutive year.

2003 - Chris Shivers becomes the second man in PBR history to win a second world title. He is also the first bull rider to win a $1 million bonus for winning the world title, a program that was introduced in this year.

2003 - Cody Custer, one of the founders of the PBR, retires after the World Finals. He then goes on to be the judging director of the PBR from 2004-2007.

2003 - The PBR puts up half the money to purchase Bob Tallman's Rough Stock Registry and form American Bucking Bull, Inc., a breeding registry.

2002 - Ty Murray retires from bull riding in the middle of the season, and receives the PBR Ring of Honor at the World Finals.

2001 - Legendary bullfighter Jimmy Anderson retires at age 48.

2001 - Adriano Moraes becomes the first man in PBR history to win two World Championships; Chris Shivers becomes the first man in PBR history to exceed $1 million in career earnings.

2001 - Ross Coleman wins $100,000 for an eight-second ride aboard Tuff-E-Nuff at the Mossy Oak Shootout in Columbus, Ohio. It was the richest ride in history at the time.

1999 - Cody Hart makes the most 90-point rides in a single season, making 16 of them that year.

1999 - Cody Hart wins the most events in a single season with 6 event wins (this feat would be matched by Justin McBride in 2005); Bubba Dunn sets a PBR-record mark of 96.5 on Promise Land at Tampa, Florida. The score would later be matched by Chris Shivers (2000 and 2001) and Michael Gaffney (2004).

1998 - Chris Shivers becomes the first man to win over $300,000 in a single season.

1998 - Terry Don West sets a record for the most consecutive bulls ridden; he rode 15 in a row that year, and as of 2008, that record has yet to be broken.

1996 - Cody Lambert, veteran bull rider and one of the PBR's founders, retires after the PBR World Finals. He then goes on to be the PBR's head judge and livestock director.