CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Professional Bull Riders are returning to Cheyenne Frontier Days this week, but this year, there’s a new twist to the show.
The organization’s two-night event at Frontier Park Arena, which kicks off Monday and ends Tuesday, will also mark the official debut of its brand-new Team Series in which eight teams — featuring rosters full of riders selected via a previously held draft along with free agent signings — will compete against each other throughout a 10-event regular season before the year’s finale, the Team Series Championship, in Las Vegas in November.
A selection of preseason events has been held in the series already, but the Cheyenne event — which will be one of two neutral-site events on the calendar along with a show next month in Anaheim, California — will be the first to count toward this year’s Team Series standings. For those who can’t make it to Frontier Park but still want to watch, the event will be televised on CBS Sports Network beginning at 8 p.m. both nights.
So, what’s so different? In terms of the bull riding itself, not much, but there are a few notable structural changes to the competition.
Judging and scoring rules will be identical to those of normal bull riding, but each team will compete in head-to-head, 5-on-5 matchups against another team of riders each day. The winner of the game is whichever team records the highest aggregate score after each rider has completed their run, with the overall event winner being the team that has the most game wins across an event. Ties in the standings are broken via an extra bonus round at the end.
Each of the eight teams will bring five “core” riders to each event with a required sixth (and optional seventh) rider available on standby should a scheduled rider not be able to compete due to injury or another reason. Riders can’t compete twice in a single game and teams that don’t have the five riders required to complete the game must forfeit.
The eight teams in the league — the Carolina Cowboys, Oklahoma Freedom, Austin Gamblers, Kansas City Outlaws, Texas Rattlers, Arizona Ridge Riders, Nashville Stampede and Missouri Thunder — have all decided their five-player lineups for Monday night as bull pairings have been announced as well. An extended explainer of the Team Series’ rules and regulations, as well as full rosters including coaches, is available on the Professional Bull Riders’ website.
The schedule for Night 1 of the Team Series in Cheyenne is as follows:
TEAM SERIES NIGHT 1 STARTING LINEUPS (Monday)
Game 1: Missouri Thunder vs. Texas Rattlers
- Andrew Alvidrez (Thunder) vs. Light’s Out
- Cody Coverchuk (Rattlers) vs. Sugar Boom Boom
- Adriano Salgado (Thunder) vs. American Gangster
- Cody Jesus (Rattlers) vs. Big Wave
- Cody Teel (Thunder) vs. Bubba G
- Brady Fielder (Rattlers) vs. Air Shift
- Clayton Sellars (Thunder) vs. Milk Mustache
- Ednelio Almeida (Rattlers) vs. Concealed Carry
- Colten Fritzlan (Thunder) vs. Shake & Bake
- Braidy Randolph (Rattlers) vs. Moonlight Party
Game 2: Nashville Stampede vs. Carolina Cowboys
- Joao Henrique Lucas (Stampede) vs. Blunt Force Trauma
- Daylon Swearingen (Cowboys) vs. Lil 2 Train
- Kaique Pacheco (Stampede) vs. High Country Hitman
- Boudreaux Campbell (Cowboys) vs. The Undertaker
- Fernando Henrique Novais (Stampede) vs. Experiment 626
- Mason Taylor (Cowboys) vs. Slim Shady
- Thiago Salgado (Stampede) vs. Cowboy Cool
- Wingson Henrique da Silva (Cowboys) vs. Juju
- Ryan Dirteater (Stampede) vs. Twisted Feather
- Ramon de Lima (Cowboys) vs. Falcon Eddie
Game 3: Kansas City Outlaws vs. Oklahoma Freedom
- Marcus Mast (Outlaws) vs. Safety Meeting
- Eli Vastbinder (Freedom) vs. Medicine Man
- Bob Mitchell (Outlaws) vs. Lil Hott
- Derek Kolbaba (Freedom) vs. Cold Shot
- Tate Pollmeier (Outlaws) vs. Cherry Bomb
- Chase Outlaw (Freedom) vs. Cast No Stones
- Rafael Henrique dos Santos (Outlaws) vs. Bread Basket
- Casey Roberts (Freedom) vs. Gangster Time
- Dalton Kasel (Outlaws) vs. Black & Blue
- Trevor Kastner (Freedom) vs. Magic Carpet
Game 4: Arizona Ridge Riders vs. Austin Gamblers
- Alisson de Souza (Ridge Riders) vs. Cold Chill
- Conner Halverson (Gamblers) vs. Dagger
- Marco Eguchi (Ridge Riders) vs. Surprise Package
- Lucas Divino (Gamblers) vs. Alakazam
- Eduardo Aparecido (Ridge Riders) vs. Back Jack
- Austin Richardson (Gamblers) vs. Hell Right
- Sandro Batista (Ridge Riders) vs. Cool Whip
- Ezekiel Mitchell (Gamblers) vs. The Sauce
- Luciano de Castro (Ridge Riders) vs. Bentley
- Jose Vitor Leme (Gamblers) vs. The Right Stuff
