Professional Bull Riders Head into the Heartland on May 8-9!!!

By Briana Stensrud, PBR
Posted Friday, May 8, 2009

PUEBLO, Colo. (May 4, 2009) - The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) tour invades Iowa’s Wells Fargo Arena. The 2009 Genuity Invitational marks stop no. 21 on the PBR’s elite tour. For two action-packed performances, the top 40 bull riders in the world will take on their animal counterparts on Friday, May 8 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m.

The Genuity Invitational will feature the best riders in the world including 2008 PBR World Champion and winner of last year’s Des Moines event Guilherme Marchi (Leme, SP, Brazil); PBR superstars J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, N.C.), Brian Canter (Randleman, N.C.), and Robson Palermo (Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil); two-time PBR World Champion Chris Shivers (Jonesville, La.) as well as fan favorites such as Wiley Petersen (Fort Hall, Idaho), Matt Bohon (Cole Camp, Mo.), and “Titanium Tough” Luke Snyder (Raymore, Mo.) who will compete in his 255th consecutive BFTS event.

A ticket will guarantee PBR fans, new and old, more than two hours of edge-of-your-seat thrills and spills, rock & roll music, and pyrotechnics. Starting at as little as $10, tickets are available NOW and can be purchased in person at the Wells Fargo Ticket Office, online at dahlstickets.com, or by phone at 866.55.DAHLS.

The format of the Genuity Invitational consists of three rounds of competition with the first two rounds featuring all 40 riders matched against the sport’s rankest bulls. The top 15 riders based upon their scores after two rounds qualify for the Built Ford Tough Championship Round, the decisive round of action, following intermission of round two on Saturday. The rider with the highest cumulative score on three bulls will earn the coveted Genuity Invitational event title!

VERSUS will air both nights of competition from Des Moines. Please check your local listings for more information.

The PBR is the premier bull riding organization in the world, boasting contestants from the United States, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, and Canada. Its events air weekly on VERSUS at 8 p.m. EST Saturday and Sunday nights (please check your local listings for details in your area), and on NBC and FOX throughout the year. For more information on the Genuity Invitational, please visit www.pbrnow.com or contact Briana Stensrud at 719 242 2800 ext. 3366.

About the PBR:
More than 100 million viewers tune in each year to the PBR on FOX, NBC, ESPN, VERSUS, and on a host of foreign networks across the globe. With approximately 500 hours of prime time programming annually, PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air, in addition to attracting over 1.7 million live event attendees each year with its multi-tiered event structure which includes the marquee Built Ford Tough Series, the Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger Tour, the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Tour, and the Discovery Tour, designed specifically for entry level contestants. The PBR is headquartered in Pueblo, Colo., with additional offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. The PBR prides itself in its 1,000 plus stock contractor relationships and over 1,200 PBR bull riders competing in more than 300 PBR sanctioned competitions in five countries.