Bull Riding Border War Brewing After Frontier Days Switches From PBR To PRCA

Cheyenne Frontier Days will again feature professional bull riding this summer, but organizers say they are bringing in a different set of riders and focusing less on pro bull riding as a televised broadcast event. 

The Professional Bull Riders circuit will not return to Frontier Days, and instead the multiday rodeo event known as the Daddy of ’em All will feature the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s (PRCA) Xtreme Bulls Tour on July 21 and 22.

“PBR is really designed around, especially at big events like this, around TV,” Tom Hirsig, CEO of Cheyenne Frontier Days, told Cowboy State Daily. “They do a fine production.

“We just felt like we wanted to have a production that was more focused on the live fan.”

When Frontier Days opted to go with PRCA riders, the PBR decided to produce its own event in Fort Collins, Colorado, on the same dates as Xtreme Bulls in Cheyenne. 

Together, more than 80 professional bull riders will gather for the two simultaneous events, unofficially creating a first of its kind Border War of bull riding this summer. 

Of Bulls And Men

The bulls of PBR eat 10-15 pounds of high-protein grain and around 15 pounds of primo-quality hay daily. This metabolizes into rocket fuel for bulls with names like Spilled Communion, Man Hater, Mr. Demon and Cookies & Cream to grow as large as 1,800 pounds each.

They are the livestock equivalent of an offensive tackle in the NFL who weighs 350 pounds but is also the fastest, quickest and meanest guy on the team.

They don’t want to be ridden, but so many cowboys want to ride them, there are multiple professional leagues and different rising superstars of pro bull riding. 

“Stetson Wright is on his comeback tour,” said Hirsig, looking ahead to who might steal the spotlight in July. 

Wright is a two-time world champion, and he also has five consecutive All-Around World titles. Like other bull riders on the PRCA circuit, Wright competes in multiple events. 

Hirsig said Frontier Days opted to feature PRCA bull riding in part because, “We’re getting back to our rodeo roots by partnering with the PRCA to host the Xtreme Bulls.”

The split with PBR came about from diverging philosophies between it and CFD.

“When Tom Hirsig with Cheyenne Frontier Days says we're getting back to our rodeo roots by partnering with the PRCA, what he really means is we're getting back to an organization that's committed to all of rodeo,” said Tracy Renck, manager of communications and media for the PRCA. 

Renck told Cowboy State Daily the PRCA features all sorts of rodeo athletes, while PBR focuses on bull riding. 

“Our top 40 bull riders, depending on injuries, they'll compete in one round each day,” said Renck, who could not name the exact bulls the riders will face in Cheyenne, but they could include the likes of Haunted Hotel, Blanco Dice, Macho Man and Huckleberry. “So, 40 riders will ride 1 bull each day. The guy that has the highest score after the two rides will win.”

Second By Second

The whirling storm of a professional bull ride begins with a nod. 

Gripping a flat braided rope with his dominant hand, the rider tips his helmet downward as a signal to open the chute. 

The 8-second clock begins as the rider strives to match the movements of the bull as it instinctively rears, bucks and twists as if desperate to get a predator off its back. 

“A bucking bull is genetically predisposed to come out, kick, jump and spin. Very athletic,” said Sean Gleason, CEO of Professional Bull Riders. “And much like a racehorse is bred to run fast, PBR bucking bulls are just genetically predisposed to jump, kick and spin.

“They do it in the pasture — not with the same intensity — but it's just in their nature.”

To make it 8 seconds, a rider's upper body must remain loose to allow for better balance and flow with the bull's motions. 

After 8 seconds, the ride is over, and during PBR events, the “protection team” then wrangles the bull away from the rider. 

This was once the job of rodeo clowns. 

“We prefer to call them the PBR Protection Team,” explained Gleason. “They're actually sponsored by the U.S. Border Patrol. We took them out of the clown makeup and put them into uniforms because they're the best athletes on the field most days, because they face every single bull.”

PBR events are televised on CBS, said Gleason, touting how in the first 10 weeks of the year, the “Unleash The Beast” and “Velocity” tours have hosted more than 575,000 fans, selling out 32 event days. 

Disappointed By Decision

Gleason told Cowboy State Daily he was disappointed that PBR was not invited back to Cheyenne Frontier Days. 

For the last six years, “We have a great event in Big Sky, Montana, that ends on Saturday night,” he said. “And our bull riders, staff, everybody, the crew we tour with can make it down to historically Cheyenne and put on that event.”

Now the PBR tour will follow up its July event in Big Sky with “Last Cowboy Standing,” a competition in Fort Collins on July 21 and 22. 

There's a $100,000 prize purse, with bull riders making as many as seven rides to become the “Last Cowboy Standing.”

When rodeo fans heard about the two pro bull riding events happening at the same time on either side of the Wyoming-Colorado border, Gleason said he started hearing comparisons to the annual Border War showdown between the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University in football. The winner claims the traveling Bronze Boot trophy. 

Gleason said the PBR “Last Cowboy Standing” event at Canvas Stadium on the Colorado State University campus in  Fort Collins will also feature, “Some big music acts that will pair with PBR for those particular days.”

“PBR is a professional sport that tours the country with sold out events in Madison Square Garden to sold out events in the Pacific Northwest and the tip of Florida,” said Gleason. “So, we cross the country with a televised sport.”

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.