Professional Bull Riders Championship crowned the wildest ride in Las Vegas
- AR
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Just outside the T-Mobile Arena doors, blinding lights, belligerent transients and trucks hauling bulls are revolving like satellites around the grounds. Sin City is an uncanny place for dyed-in-the-wool cowboys to be conjured, but they’re here to show Vegas what man versus beast really means.
LINK TO GALLERY - https://professional-bull-ri.nodicenews.com
When a 150 pound man gets on top of a 2,000 pound bucking bull just to get thrown off, injuries aren’t too hard to come by.
It sounds like a cake walk. 100 points on the line — 50 for the rider and 50 for the bull. Mere seconds on the back of the beast while keeping one hand on the bull and one hand in the air. Though the framework is cut and dry, those eight seconds are known as the most dangerous moments in professional sports.
These men risk life, limb and career for the thrill, the title and for a chance at winning one big-ass buckle.
Last April, a 24-year-old bull rider Dylan West was thrown off a bull and trampled to death. In 2023, legendary bull rider JB Mauney’s career was ended after he broke his neck during an Xtreme Bulls show, the same competition series where West lost his life.
But getting wheeled out on a stretcher is the last thing going through these riders' minds as they tape up for the first runs of the three-day championship.
LAS VEGAS - A sea of Stetsons flood the admission lobby inside the T-Mobile Arena as fans rush to their seats with half-drunk grins and a hankering for a showdown straight out of the Wild West.
Behind the bucking chutes, riders, contractors, media teams and coaches are keeping spirits high. Riders are shooting the shit with opposing teammates, coaches are in the halls speaking with family members and entourage wait outside locker rooms for a chance to greet their favorite bull rider before the dirt gets swept up.
Call it Southern Charm, or maybe it’s the mutual respect from grappling one ton beasts for a living, but there’s a visceral friendliness between the people running the show. It’s a professional sport with big time athletes and a neck-breaking undertone, but the camaraderie is intoxicating.
Friday night began with ten teams competing for a spot in Saturday’s quarterfinals. After a three-way play-in, two five-on-five showdowns and one intense last-chance scramble, only six teams rode on to Day Two.
The arena lights flickered on for Day Two just as quick as Friday night’s chaos ended. Once again the star riders were found behind the chutes, taping up for Saturday night’s rides.
Brady Fielder was one of the riders pacing the hallway backstage. He’s been riding calves since he was in Pampers, and has the scars to prove it.
When Fielder was 16, a bull jumped on his chest, disconnecting his retina in his right eye.
He’s been blind in that eye ever since.
Tall, steady and humble to the bone, the 25-year-old cowboy from Australia found his way in front of my lens just before his 90-point ride that would jolt the Texas Rattlers into the Sunday’s championship lineup, along with three other teams.
Sunday morning was met with the quiet choir of cowboy church right outside the arena.
In the parking lot I found Lonnie and Amy Austin, owners of the mighty bull Blonde Bomber, who Fielder rode just last night. I knew they meant business by the ropes on their shoulders and the buckles on their hips.
“Blonde Bomber won $40,000 last night,” said Lonnie Austin of Austin Rodeo Ranch, a contractor in Texas. “Fielder rode him for a good score.”
“They’re kinda like your kids, you don’t know they're going to be a baseball superstar until they get there. You really don't know where you want to be until you get there,” Lonnie said regarding knowing when a bull is ready to be ridden the first time. “You really don't know what your divine potential is. We have more potential when we leave here too.”
By Day Three, most commotion had come to a diminuendo — highlighting the stale scent of cattle, sweat and exactly what an enclosed ranch in the middle of Vegas would smell like.
Backstage, riders stayed inside their locker rooms, the most dialogue coming from cowboy entourage asking to eat the food provided to press inside the media room.
“I’m just waiting to go home. Well first I need to go to my room then I can go home,” said a dull-faced man walking into the elevator.
When the dust settled and the bulls were put back in their pens, the Carolina Cowboys stood atop the leaderboard, champions of a weekend defined by heart, grit, and historic rides. The Missouri Thunder finished just short, the Texas Rattlers clawed their way to third, and the Arizona Ridge Riders rounded out the top four.
The PBR World Finals will be held May 2026 in Fort Worth Texas.
