PBR Storms into Columbus, Ohio for 12th Consecutive Year

By Courtesy of PBR
Posted Monday, October 5, 2009

Don’t miss any of the action when it airs on VERSUS on Saturday and Sunday.

NEW YORK, N.Y. (October 5, 2009) - The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) will set Columbus, Ohio on fire as the elite built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) tour heads into town! Nationwide Arena will host two performances of non-stop action on Saturday, October 10th at 7:50 p.m. and on Sunday, October 11th at 2 p.m. At the Cooper Tires Invitational, stop no. 30 on the prestigious BFTS tour, the top 40 bull riders in the world will compete against the toughest bulls the PBR has to offer, all riding to win the coveted event title. These riders have been competing week in and week out; each striving for the $1,000,000 PBR World Champion title.

Tickets are on sale NOW, and for as little as $10 and increasing to $25, $50, $75, and $100 (standard ticket fees apply), fans will see full-throttle action – PBR style! Tickets are available online at www.ticketmaster.com, in person at the Nationwide Arena Box Office, or by phone at 800.745.3000. Fans will be not be disappointed as a ticket to see The Toughest Sport on Earth! guarantees over two days of jam packed with thrills and spills, pyrotechnics, and rock & roll music!

Topping the list of competitors are Team Cooper riders Zack Brown (Santa Fe, Texas) who was the 2008 Columbus event champion, fan favorite Wiley Petersen (Fort Hall, Idaho), and 2009 Daisy Rookie of the Year contender Skeeter Kingsolver (Mclouth, Kan.); current no. 1 bull rider in the world Kody Lostroh (Longmont, Colo.); two-time (2000 & 2003) PBR World Champion Chris Shivers (Jonesville, La.); and PBR superstars J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, N.C.), Ryan McConnel (Colgate, Okla.), Austin Meier (Kinta, Okla.), and Sean Willingham (Summerville, Ga.). These top cowboys will ride alongside the reigning PBR World Champion Guilherme Marchi (Leme, SP, Brazil).

The Cooper Tires Invitational consists of three rounds of competition with the first two rounds featuring the top 40 bull riders randomly matched against the PBR’s toughest bulls. The riders with the top 15 scores will advance to the Built Ford Tough Championship Round after intermission on Sunday and in the end, the cowboy with the highest total score on three bulls will be declared the winner!

Don’t miss any of the action from Columbus when it airs on VERSUS. PBR will air LIVE on Saturday, October 10th at 8 p.m. EST while the conclusion will air on VERSUS on Sunday, October 11th at 9 p.m. EST. Please check your local listings for the most up to date times and information.

The PBR is the premiere bull riding organization in the world, boasting contestants from the United States, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, and Canada, Its events air weekly on VERSUS, NBC, and FOX and in recent years it has been tagged the ‘fastest growing sport in the country.’ For more information on the Cooper Tires Invitational, please visit www.pbrnow.com or call Briana Stensrud at 719 242 2800 ext. 3366.

All roads are leading to Las Vegas and you don’t want to miss out on any of the action at the 2009 Built Ford Tough World Finals in Las Vegas, Nev. The world-class event will take place on Oct. 30-Nov 1 and Nov. 5-8 at the Thomas & Mack Center---get your tickets NOW at 866.PBR.SHOW or unlvtickets.com!

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About the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR):
PBR attracts over 1.7 million live attendees each year with its multi-tiered event structure which includes the prestigious 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. With over 450 hours of prime time programming annually and a viewership of 100 million, PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air and broadcasts on FOX, NBC, VERSUS, and on a host of foreign networks across the globe. The PBR is headquartered in Pueblo, Colo., with additional offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico, and 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 across the five countries.