ARLINGTON, Texas (February 16, 2010) - This Saturday night, dreams will become a reality in Arlington, Texas.
Forty-three of the rankest bulls await head-to-head tournament-style matchups with 24 of the top professional bull riders in the world at Cowboys Stadium, in front of the largest U.S. crowd to ever witness a bull riding event.
“Personally, in the over 15 years that I’ve been here, it will by far be the biggest event in the history of the sport,” said Randy Bernard, who will step down as CEO of the PBR after this event, “and it will be a format that will lend itself so well to our sport.”
Never before have the top riders in the world been asked to get on four or five bulls of this caliber in a three-hour period of time, so naturally, Bernard said, “We didn’t want to waste it on any specific arena. We wanted it to be a very special event.”
Billed as “an event unlike any other in the history of the PBR,” the Iron Cowboy Invitational take place in the $1.3 billion stadium Jerry Jones dreamed of when he purchased the Dallas Cowboys.
When Bernard met Jones, the two became fast friends and wanted to work on a PBR event together.
And as soon as Bernard discovered Jones’ plans for Cowboys Stadium, he knew he had the perfect venue to host this week’s Iron Cowboy Invitational.
“We wanted to hold off until he had the new stadium built,” Bernard said. “It was important for us to hold this event until we had the right place to make it really big.”
For Bernard, after having spent the better part of five years dreaming and planning, “It’s like your baby, and to me, that’s what’s going to be so exciting about it.”
NEWS and NOTES
Money is the cure-all: Going into this past weekend’s event in Oklahoma City, the injury report reached double digits for the first time this season. Another five riders failed even to complete the Express Classic.
However, all six of the 24 Iron Cowboy competitors who were listed as injured at the end of last weekend will be competing for the title of Iron Cowboy and the $260,000 payout that goes with it.
Guilherme Marchi and Ross Coleman have recently dealt with wrist injuries, as has Robson Palermo, but all three will be in Arlington this weekend. L.J. Jenkins and Sean Willingham were unable to compete in the short round, but they too will be ready. And Kody Lostroh and Wiley Petersen both sent text messages confirming they’re ready to return as well.
Last week, Lostroh wrote, “Still planning on Iron Cowboy. We’ll see what it feels like there and then I’ll know if it needs surgery or not.” On Thursday, Petersen wrote, “I’m riding in Dallas. Praise God.”
Show me the money: In addition to the $260,000 paid out to the winner, the runner-up will receive $40,000. Another $25,000 will be paid to the average winner. In all, the $325,000 in prize money will go a long way toward getting the PBR to the historic milestone of $100 million paid to bull riders in its 16-plus-year existence.
Thinking out of the barrel: Having worked rodeo events like Cheyenne Frontier Days and the Calgary Stampede, Flint Rasmussen is used to a “stadium-type atmosphere” where the crowd is “a mile away.” However, in his upcoming Podcast, Flint added, “Believe me, rodeo dreams of being able to pull something like this off. It’s a dream.”
He went on to call the Iron Cowboy Invitational a creative event that was “genius the way it was come up with.” Rasmussen also noted that he has spoken with several people involved with various rodeos that will be paying close attention to this weekend’s event.
Because of new elements that will be worked into this one-night event, including the merging of TV elements with the live show, Rasmussen said he isn’t sure to what degree he’ll contribute, but that the tournament-style bracket will be “entertaining enough.”
The more things change, the more they stay the same: In an interview this past weekend, Shorty Gorham said he didn’t think the overwhelming size of Cowboys Stadium would affect that actual bull riding or the way in which he, Frank Newsom or Joe Baumgartner will do their job as bullfighters.
“I don’t know how much it’ll affect us, because most of these bulls stay pretty tight to the chutes anyway,” Gorham said. “At the same time, we will have to cover a little bit more ground if something happens.”
Gorham said challenges like this are part of the fun of going to different venues each week. However, he did admit that he might not be in as good a shape as needs to be to get from one end of the stadium to the other. “From what everybody’s telling me it’s pretty big,” he said, “so maybe they’ll have a golf cart for us.”
Thanks for the memories: Legendary bull rider and Ring of Honor member Jerome Robinson said he’s looking forward to the competition. “It brings back memories, because we used to do a tournament-type competition back when I was riding,” he said this past weekend.
Robinson, who won one of the three tournaments he entered, said they featured 16 riders that rode two bulls per round over the course of three days. “Of course, these guys are going to have to do it in three hours,” he recalled.
“But in the bull riding business, we all enjoy a challenge,” said Robinson, who admitted, “I’m already trying to figure out how we’re going to get it all taken down.”
Friday night lights: The night before the big event, fans are encouraged to come to the WinStar World Casino, where they can take part in a meet-and-greet with riders and bullfighters as well as a Q&A session with riders and contractors, which begins at 7 p.m., followed by the “One Armed Bandit Invitational” on the casino floor.
All 24 riders competing in the Iron Cowboy Invitational will be paired up with 12 fans and 12 casino guests. The winner will receive $1,500 and a buckle, with $500 going to the second-place finisher, and $2,000 to the Rider Relief Fund.
Wool Warriors: From 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. there will be a mutton bustin’ competition every hour on the hour in the Fan Zone area located outside of the stadium, with the Top 10 competitors earning an opportunity to compete in the championship round, which will take place inside of Cowboys Stadium during the PBR performance.
Entry is $25 and includes a ticket to the Iron Cowboy Invitational.
Celebrity BBQ cook-off: From noon until 3 p.m., fans can enjoy Big Green Egg product sampling, which will include two 30-minute demonstrations from Ray Lampe, who is otherwise known as Dr. BBQ. This will be followed by a cook-off featuring celebrity chefs Tim Love, Grady Spears and Tre Wilcox, along with fan favorites Kody Lostroh, J.B. Mauney and Michael Gaffney.
Lampe will serve as Master Chef for the event, which will be judged by Ty Murray and Shorty Gorham along with former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Raghib “Rocket” Ismail and country singer Randy Houser.
Can I have your autograph: The answer is yes. Throughout the day, numerous riders – Lostroh, Mauney, Sean Willingham, Brian Canter and others – will join Flint Rasmussen and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Sydney Durso and Amy Reese to sign autographs at various booths throughout the Fan Zone area.
Get off on the pain: In advance of the March release of his new album, Gary Allan will perform a concert on the center stage inside of Cowboys Stadium beginning at 6:50 p.m. The multi-platinum artist will perform a number of cuts from his forthcoming album “Get Off on the Pain” as well as some of the past hits that made him one of the most popular Nashville artists of the past decade.
Don’t let go: Six months after making his Grand Ole Opry debut, Justin McBride will perform at Cowboys Stadium during the intermission Saturday night. “My first reaction was the same as when I heard I was playing the Opry,” he said. “I want to make sure I’m up for the task.”
McBride said he’ll have time for four or five songs, and that he’ll likely close his short set with a Chris LeDoux cover, but he could opt for the Radney Foster classic “Texas in 1880.” To fill out the sound, he’ll perform with two extra musicians, including a fiddle player.
McBride said that although he “won’t be completely in (his) comfort zone,” it won’t be nearly as nerve-racking as hosting a live TV show, “because there’s no eye contact.”
PBR NOW on RFD-TV: Hosted by J.W. Hart and Justin McBride, “PBR NOW” is a weekly live one-hour TV series that airs every Thursday on RFD-TV at 10 p.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to call in with questions at 866-547-9696, or email them to pbr@rfdtv.com.
This week, in addition to the Thursday night broadcast, PBR NOW is televising a special one-hour edition Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. The guys will be broadcasting live from their RFD stage located in the Fan Zone area outside of Cowboys Stadium, and fans are encouraged to come by for the taping.
Event Center: Follow all the action from Cowboys Stadium, by logging on to www.pbr.com and entering the “Event Center,” which is accessible from the tab located at the top of the main Web page. The Event Center provides live scoring, live blogging and event-related Podcasts and interviews.
