Oklahoma team to be in new bull riding league

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma sports fans will have a new team to rally around when the Professional Bull Riders launches a new league featuring top bull riders later this year.

The Oklahoma Freedom will be one of eight teams in the PBR Team Series. The team will be based at the Paycom Center and operated by Prodigal Sports.

Team formatted bull-riding events have been growing in popularity since the debut of the PBR Global Cup in 2017, which pits nation against nation, PBR spokesman Andrew Giangola said.

“It’s a great way to grow our sport,” Giangola said. “The home team aspect is new. We’re already seeing great demand for merchandise.”

Brandon Bates, executive director of Oklahoma City-based Prodigal sports and entertainment agency, will be general manager of the Oklahoma Freedom. Cord McCoy will be the coach.

“I’m excited about the opportunity this provides the athletes, the fans and Oklahoma in general,” Bates said. “This is a historic change for a sport that traces its roots back hundreds of years, and I’m very thankful that Prodigal has the opportunity to be a part of it.”

Teams will be drafted May 23 following the PBR 2022 Unleash the Beast tour of individual competitions and the World Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, in May. The tour includes a Feb. 11-12 stop in Oklahoma City.

The eight teams will draft their members from among riders who declare themselves eligible. The results of the Jan. 7 draft order lottery are the Austin Gamblers, Nashville Stampede, Texas Rattlers, Kansas City Outlaws, Missouri Thunder, Arizona Ridge Riders, Carolina Chaos and Oklahoma Freedom.

Bates said he likes the Freedom’s position because it gives them the eighth and ninth picks in the draft.

“I think we’ll be very successful in our draft picks,” Bates said. “I have my eyes on some guys I believe we can draft and develop.”

Giangola said bull riding is a cowboy sport and riders generally come from cattle country, but the tour includes major metropolitan venues too like New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“It’s moving into the mainstream thanks to our great broadcast partner CBS,” he said.

The PBR tour has come to Oklahoma City for more than 20 years. Current active PBR favorite Oklahoma natives include Brennon Eldred and Colten Jesse.

The PBR Team Series’ inaugural 10-event regular season will begin in July and culminate in a team playoff Nov. 4-6 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Each team will host an annual bull-riding event and western lifestyle festival. There also will be two neutral site league-produced regular season events.

The new league builds on the existing structure of professional bull riding with the same basic rules for judging and scoring qualified 8-second bull rides. Events will be in a tournament-style format with all teams competing in head-to-head matchups against a different opponent each day.

Each game will feature five riders per team squaring off against another team. Full team rosters will be comprised of seven riders on the core roster and up to three practice squad members.