PBR - PBR Makes 4th Cut of the 2009 BFTS Season

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PBR Makes 4th Cut of the 2009 BFTS Season

MEDIA CONTACT:
Katharine Sherrer
Public Relations Manager
719.242.2800, ext. 3372 office
katharine@pbrnow.com

PUEBLO, Colo. (May 11, 2009) - At the beginning of the 2009 Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) season, the PBR’s Rules & Regulations Committee made the decision that only the top forty bull riders in the world will now compete on the prestigious tour. The decision was made to create a stronger competitiveness among those qualified riders. On Monday, May 11, the PBR administration announced the fourth official cut of the 2009 season.
The riders who were dropped from the BFTS tour following the Genuity Invitational in Des Moines, Ia., are: Pete Farley (Kempsey, AUS); Dusty Ephrom (Arcola, SK, Canada); Brian Herman (Victoria, Texas); Dusty LaBeth (Louisburg, Kan.); and Nick Landreneau (Sulphur, La.). However, due to injury exemptions, Herman and LaBeth will each have one remaining event to compete at.

Due to his standings in the 2009 Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger Tour, Farley will remain on the BFTS tour. In addition, Elliott Jacoby (Rocksprings, Texas); Cody Nance (Paris, Tenn.); Caleb Sanderson (Kissimmee, Fla.); and Reese Cates (Carthage, Texas) will also advance to the elite BFTS tour by virtue of their achievements at the Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger Tour level.

The purpose of the cut is to determine which 40 bull riders will be competing on the elite Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS). Upon the conclusion of every fifth BFTS tour stop, the lowest ranked riders in the BFTS point standings are dropped from the tour and replaced by the top five riders in the Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger tour standings. Money earned at all lower level PBR tours – Copenhagen Bull Riding Tour, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Tour, Discovery Tour, and international tours – counts toward earning a spot among the 40 best bull riding athletes in the PBR. All 2008 PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals qualifiers received five BFTS events before they were subject to the cut.

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About the PBR:
More than 100 million viewers tune in each year to the PBR on FOX, NBC, ESPN, VERSUS, and on a host of foreign networks across the globe. With approximately 500 hours of prime time programming annually, PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air, in addition to attracting over 1.7 live event attendees each year with it multi-tiered event structure which includes the prestigious Built Ford Tough Series, 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., with additional offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. The PBR prides itself in its 1,000 plus stock contractor relationships and over 1,200 PBR bull riders competing in more than 300 PBR sanctioned competitions in five countries.

20 Comments

farmgirl
May 13, 2009

Don't much like the cut. Wish we could have all the riders at the events. Just think, 4 or 5
hours of bull riding!!! Honestly, I know that isn't realistic so how about showing some of
the challenger events!!! WOW!!
birdog11
May 13, 2009

I completley understand the cut , and i still think it s u c k s. It seems most people dont like it either. But why should they listen to the fans. WE ONLY SIGN THEIR PAYCHECKS (metaphorically speaking)
cowgirlupdeb
May 12, 2009

I am seeing quite a few bull riders (and a few bulls) show up who are competing on the Championship Bull Riding circuit. It has just been picked up by the GAC (Great American Country) network. I am enjoying watching both and it helps my Fantasy picks.
Shannon K
May 12, 2009

PbrFan2003 and others: Yeah, this was a huge topic of conversation a few months ago after the first cut of this season, and the PBR made it clear that they like this new system and are going to stick with it.

I can understand some of the frustration though. I think part of people's problem with the cut is that however the PBR conducted things in the past *did* work. As you mentioned, Justin McBride and Chris Shivers and...well, everyone that's been around longer than five months *did* have the opportunity to move up to the major leagues through the system that was in place up until last year. Between the time I started watching in late 2006 and the beginning of this year, we've seen the rise of Valdiron de Oliveira, Ryan McConnel, Cody Ford, McKennon Wimberly, and Ryan Dirteater, and many more that had never been on the BFTS, or had been on it only sporadically (like Josh Koschel).

While, as you say, the drop to 40 riders and the cut have been clearly explained here on the website, I've yet to hear a convincing argument as to why having only 40 riders is more beneficial, and what exactly was wrong with the previous system. The argument that's used is that it makes the sport more competitive, but it wasn't exactly un-competitive in the past, was it? Is it more competitive this year (I'm not talking about the race between Lostroh/Marchi/Mauney -- I know that's tighter than last year's runaway by Marchi)?

05-15004P: It is entirely possible for riders under this new system to have buckoff streaks -- Kasey Hayes has currently ridden 6 out of his last 31 bulls yet hasn't been cut due to his better results earlier in the year. The cut system punishes riders who perform poorly at the beginning of the year more than those who perform poorly in the middle or toward the end.
mshelton
May 12, 2009

Everyone hates to see the guys cut fron the top40, but you have to
give the young guys their chance to make it in the big time too.
The ones who get cut maybe it will give them a little extra want to
so they can come back to the top40. I am overjoyed that Reese is back
I just hope that he isn't hurt to bad that he can't ride. Go Reese and
we will see you in Tulsa
05-15004P
May 12, 2009

the cut is here to allow new riders to make a name of themselves if there was no cut there
would be a number of riders in a streak of buck offs on the tour and it would be no excitement if they all are buicking off the cut is here for a reason the pbr knows what they are talking
about new riders can make a name of themselves then if the old ride better then they will make it back on tour so everybody please quit the bickering
PBR thanks for all the updates kepp up the work
05-15004P
May 12, 2009

the cut is here to allow new riders to make a name of themselves if there was no cut there
would be a number of riders in a streak of buck offs on the tour and it would be no excitement if they all are buicking off the cut is here for a reason the pbr knows what they are talking
about new riders can make a name of themselves then if the old ride better then they will make it back on tour so everybody please quit the bickering
PBR thanks for all the updates kepp up the work
hbsjackie
May 12, 2009

The PBR works very hard to make it fair for the riders and make it possible for the new
riders to move up after a lot of work on the Challenger Tour levels. It is a little confusing
if you do not keep up with the Tour riders, but after you study it you know it is not easy to
keep everything straight. I just want to commend the PBR for the hard work they put in to
keep the riders in the correct positions. I would like to see the commentators get and give
more information about the new riders coming in and that would make it more interesting for
the fans to recognize the new riders moving up. Caleb, Pete, Elliot, and Cody all of you have
fans waiting to hear from the commentators so the fans will recognize the talent you have and
will be able to ride with the best.
PbrFan2003
May 12, 2009

I'm surprised at some of the harsher comments here...everyone is entitled to their opinion so here is mine:

The drop to 40 riders AND the cut process was explained on the TeamPBR website AND on the PBR site months ago...if you go to page 8 in the Features section, look for "The Hows and Whys of the Cut" released on February 5th...I'm unable to include the link in my posting here...

Regarding the young guys coming on tour…how would people feel if Chris Shivers or Justin McBride never had the opportunity to move up to the major leagues through the cut process years ago??
The older riders have said themselves that seeing the young faces motivates them to ride well…and think about all the knowledge the young guys can gain from being around the veteran riders.

It’s the same with all major league sports…you don’t do well enough to cut it in the big leagues? You get dropped so you can work on whatever needs to improve. Show you can do it? You get moved back up…

Give these guys a break…they all work hard to avoid getting cut…some of them that did get cut seemed grateful for the opportunity to get back to basics or work on some thing they knew wasn’t doing the job for them….
mnb75043
May 12, 2009

For those of you who want the same 40 riders until the end of time, you may need to evaluate how much of a fan you are of the sport as opposed to the riders. How is the PBR supposed to evolve? Many of the riders you don't know today may very well be huge names in 3 or 4 years. This system gives teh PBR a chance to develop new big names. The big difference now is the riders are not making names for themselves in the PRCA and then coming to the PBR (Mike White, Adriano Moraes) so there are riders we may not know too much about right now but they need the chance to get to the big show.
mnb75043
May 12, 2009

The cuts are great. There is no sense in keeping a guy on tour who is constantly getting bucked off. If a rider can not stay in the top 30 through 5 events, they should have to go down and earn their spot back. This also gives those riding well in the lower tier tours to make it in the BFTS. The Challenger, Enterprise and Discovery tour riders have to be afforded a way to make it. This is the only logical way without increasing the amount of riders per event.
texas8
May 12, 2009

I do not like the way the cuts are made now as well. I also do not like having 2 months off in the summer. Instead of reruns of the BFTS why can't Versus cover some of the Challenger series events when the major league is off? If the PBR wants to continue the cuts to allow some of the Challenger riders move up how, about making the cut every 10 events instead of 5. One thing is for sure the PRB needs to listen to the fans. The PBR has a good product and exceptional athletes performing, they are accessable to the fans and are role models for the younger generation. The other major sports have become so commercial you can't get an autograph unless you are willing to pay for it. Keep the PBR as fan friendly.
pbrfan72758
May 12, 2009

It's interesting what other fans are saying because our family feels the same way about the cut. We love the PBR and hope they will take notice of what the fans are saying. We will continue to watch the events and be supporters either way but we certainly do not agree with the new system.
thejackdidnthelp
May 12, 2009

The cuts are supposed to be to keep the riders riding the best on the BFTS tour ... they have to ride to stay there.
The drop from 45 riders to 40 was never explained .. but I think it's for two reasons... more sponsorship time at events without the events getting any longer and, more importantly, it FORCES alot of the top riders to go to the lower (challenger, enterprise) events ... more "names" at lower events, more ticket sales for the event.
These changes certainly weren't done with the fans in mind... I went to see the BFTS in Worcester, M!@#. two weeks ago. 25 percent of the riders were "who's that" ... names we'd never heard of.
Wake up PBR ... it's like taking Jeff Gordon or Dale Jr. out of a NASCAR race, and putting some unknown in, because Jr. or Gordon hadn't won a race in so long ... fans will stop caring, because they don't know who these kids are.
thejackdidnthelp
May 12, 2009

The cuts are supposed to be to keep the riders riding the best on the BFTS tour ... they have to ride to stay there.
The drop from 45 riders to 40 was never explained .. but I think it's for two reasons... more sponsorship time at events without the events getting any longer and, more importantly, it FORCES alot of the top riders to go to the lower (challenger, enterprise) events ... more "names" at lower events, more ticket sales for the event.
These changes certainly weren't done with the fans in mind... I went to see the BFTS in Worcester, M!@#. two weeks ago. 25 percent of the riders were "who's that" ... names we'd never heard of.
Wake up PBR ... it's like taking Jeff Gordon or Dale Jr. out of a NASCAR race, and putting some unknown in, because Jr. or Gordon hadn't won a race in so long ... fans will stop caring, because they don't know who these kids are.
quilliam
May 12, 2009

When are these cuts going to end...? By the time we get to the final we will be lucky to have the top 5 riding... I don't think these cuts have anything to do with creating the best of the best. I think it is all about the media, and making it a better fit for tv... Just look at all the "made for TV" moments we have had already this year. All the BS of bull v's bull, cowboy v's cowboy... What next Leah v's Flint sack races...
Let's just get back to the reason we all fell in love with this sport BULL RIDING.
alade3746
May 12, 2009

I don't like or understand the way they do the cut now either. And its' not really the top 40, its the top 30. If you're not in the top 30 you're pretty much out. I miss two of my favorite riders every week - Cord McCoy and Colby Yates. And I'm worried about my favorite, Mike White. His rank is slipping. Part of what I've always enjoyed about the PBR is that you get to know the cowboys and it becomes more personal. But yes, it does give up and coming riders a chance at the PBR. But I personally liked the old way better. Seems like things just haven't been the same since PBR sold to that company.
hillsaa
May 11, 2009

No one enjoys the BFTS cuts but they are a part of the tour and the only way some new comers become fan favorites! It is a huge bummer that Dusty LaBeth hasn't been able to work his way up the leader board, but let's hope he can make some big moves on his injury exemption. On a positive note Reese Cates is back and who doesn't love Reese? No worries though, Summer break is almost here and then the guys will have a chance to make some much needed money at the Copenhagen events to gain their places back on the BFTS tour. Good luck to all the guys~
beccad5
May 11, 2009

I honestly don't understand it either.
WVPBR
May 11, 2009

I'M SORRY BUT I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS CUT WHO IN THE WORLD COME UP WITH THIS BULL I THINK IT'S A BUNCH OF CRAP

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