Msnbc.com, one of the top online news sources, has featured the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) in an article on its Business – Sports Biz section. PBR’s CEO Randy Bernard as well as former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda talk about how the PBR has grown from an idea in 1992 to one of the top mainstream professional sports today. Click here to read the article: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25498075/.

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The 2008 PBR Team Shootout debuts in less than four weeks and fans have five opportunities to see the exciting new competition in person. The top twenty bull riders in the elite Built Ford Tough Series presented by Wrangler (BFTS) world standings along with the teammate of their choice will be showcased at select bull riding events across the country and will air exclusively on ESPN2. Each team member will ride two bulls with the highest score on four bulls determining the winning team. In these winner-take-all events, each team will compete to take home individual event purses and all teams will be competing for points to qualify for the 2008 PBR Team Shootout final event in Pueblo, Colo. on August 28. 

Check out the ticket information in these five cities and don’t miss the chance to see this inaugural competition!

Del Mar, CA – July 27

First stop for the PBR Team Shootout is the Del Mar Arena at 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 27. Tickets can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com, in person at the Del Mar Fairgrounds Box Office, or by phone at (619) 220-TIXS or (858) 792-4252. Tickets are priced at $26 for grandstand seating or $66 for box seating. The Del Mar event will air on Sunday, August 10 at 4 p.m. EST on ESPN2.

Paso Robles, CA – August 3

The California Mid-State Fair is home to the second stop of the PBR Shootout on Sunday, August 3, 2008. Action gets underway at 5 p.m. in the Main Grandstands Arena. Tickets are available for $26 and $32 and go on sale Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. They can be found online at www.midstatefair.com or by calling (800) 909-FAIR. The event will air on ESPN2 on Sunday, August 17 at 5 p.m. EST.

Molalla, OR – August 9

PBR superstar Ross Coleman (Molalla, Ore.) will host the third stop of the Shootout. The world’s top bull riders will take on their bovine competitors at the Molalla Buckeroo Grounds on Saturday, August 9 at 7 p.m. Tickets can be pre-purchased for $16 or at the gate for $25 and can be ordered online at www.rosscoleman.com or by phone at (503) 759-2855. Check out the Molalla event on Saturday, August 23 at 3 p.m. EST on ESPN2.

Guthrie, OK – August 23

Forty of the world’s toughest bull riders will invade the famous Lazy E Arena on Saturday, August 23 at 8:00 p.m. for the fourth stop of the PBR Shootout. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Lazy E Ticket Office, by phone at (405) 235-8288, or online at www.ticketmaster.com. They are available for $20, $35, or $50. ESPN2 will air the Guthrie event on Sunday, September 7 at 6:30 p.m. EST.

Pueblo, CO – August 28 (Finals)

Pueblo, Colorado, home to the PBR Headquarters, will play host to the finals of the inaugural PBR Team Shootout where the top ten teams after the first four events will go head to head to see which two bull riders will take home the championship purse and bragging rights for a year. Tommy G Productions will produce the action-packed event which gets underway on Thursday, August 28 at 8 p.m. in the Budweiser Rodeo Arena at the Colorado State Fairgrounds. Tickets start as low as $16 and can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at (719) 404-2070. The finals will air on ESPN on Sunday, September 14 at 3 p.m. EST.

The PBR is the premiere bull riding organization in the world, boasting contestants from the United States, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, and Canada, Its events air weekly on VERSUS, NBC, and FOX and in recent years it has been tagged the ‘fastest growing sport in the country.’ For more information on the PBR, please visit www.pbrnow.com or call 719 242 2800.

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About the PBR:

More than 100 million viewers tune in each year to the PBR on FOX, NBC, VERSUS and on a host of foreign networks across the globe. With approximately 400 hours of prime time programming annually PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air, in addition to attracting over one and one half million live event attendees each year with its multi-tiered event structure which includes the marquee Built Ford Tough Series presented by Wrangler, the Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger Tour,, the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Tour, and the Discovery Tour, designed specifically for entry level contestants. The PBR is headquartered in Pueblo, Colo., and has over 1,200 PBR bull riders compete in more than 300 PBR sanctioned competitions in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico.

In another PBR Prime Time exclusive, the draw order for the PBR Team Shootout on ESPN2 was announced.

PBR CEO Randy Bernard was joined on air by Sr. Vice President of Operations Dennis Gach and Vice President of Event Tours Jay Daugherty to announce a random selection of poker chips that were used to determine the order in which the Top 20 riders will select their teammates in a draft next Tuesday.

“We’re excited about this,” said Bernard, who also noted that the Team Shootout is “separate and different” from the Built Ford Tough Series because it’s a team competition and a winner-take-all format. “All of that will help add to the excitement.”

Sean Willingham, who recently won an event in Orlando, will get the first pick in the draft, while world No. 1 Guilherme Marchi will pick 15th.

The entire draft order is as follows: 1. Sean Willingham, 2. Mike Lee, 3. Brian Canter, 4. Travis Briscoe, 5. J.B. Mauney, 6. Brandon Clark, 7. Renato Nunes, 8. Valdiron de Oliveira, 9. Luke Snyder, 10. Ross Coleman, 11. Mike White, 12. Zack Brown, 13. L.J. Jenkins, 14. Chris Shivers, 15. Guilherme Marchi, 16. Adriano Moraes, 17. Kody Lostroh, 18. Ednei Caminhas, 19. Robson Palermo, 20. Dustin Elliott.

“I think this is going to be a great way to see some great bull riding in the month of August,” Bernard said.

Arguably no one fared better than Willingham, who moved up nine spots in the draw, in claiming the first pick. Canter moved up more spots than any other rider in the Top 20, going from 18th to 3rd.

Conversely, two of the most consistent riders of the season – Marchi and Lostroh – slipped 14 spots each in the random selection process and will pick their teammates 15th and 17th respectively.

The draft selection, hosted by Wild Bill, will take place Tuesday, July 7 on PBR Prime Time at 9 p.m. EST.

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright

It’s going to be an old-fashioned prime time shootout Tuesday evening.

Randy Bernard, PBR CEO, will be joined by fellow executives Dennis Gach, Sr. VP of Operations, and Jay Daugherty, VP of Event Tours, at 9 p.m. EST on the weekly online radio program PBR Prime Time, which is hosted by Wild Bill.

The trio will conduct a random draw to determine the order in which team captains for the recently announced PBR Team Shootout – http://www.pbrnow.com/release/?id=4019 – will draft their teammates.

PBR Prime Time is broadcast live every Tuesday night and is accessible by logging onto www.pbrnow.com.

Next week on Tuesday, all 20 team captains – determined by the Top 20 rankings as of June 23 – will appear on the program to make their selections.

The five-event original series will occur at select bull riding events across the country – Del Mar and Paso Robles, Calif.; Molalla, Ore.; Guthrie, Okla.; and Pueblo – and will be broadcast exclusively on ESPN2.

The series marks the first time that Toughest Sport on Dirt will be featured on the Worldwide Leader in Sports.

Team members will ride two bulls each at two of the nationally televised events, with the highest score on the four bulls determining the winning team.

The PBR Team Shootout is made even more exciting with a winner-take-all format.

This week’s episode of PBR Prime Time will also feature a question and answer segment with Michael Gaffney and J.W. Hart as well as an in-depth interview with Craig Hummer.