2008 Finals repeats compelling strains
PUEBLO, Colo. (November 25, 2008) - It was the final round of the 1994 Professional Bull Riders World Finals in Las Vegas and one obstacle stood between Clint Branger and a gold buckle: Bodacious, the toughest bull on hooves.
It was as if the buckle dangled from the ceiling of the MGM Grand Garden, the massive emerald-green venue that featured the PBR’s inaugural World Finals, and Branger had to stay on the World Champion Bull to grasp it.
But near the end of Branger’s attempt to cling to the high-leaping beast for the required 8 seconds, the talented Montana cowboy popped off near the sounding of the buzzer.
The judges looked at their stop watches. They shrugged, nodded no and sorrowfully announced that the very talented bull rider had been aboard for 7.7 seconds.
Minutes later, the title went to Adriano Moraes, a fresh face from Brazil who was taking the North American bull riding circuits by storm.
Fast forward to the last day of the 2008 World Finals, the PBR’s 15th annual championships conducted earlier this month at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center.
Again, there was a showdown between two high-profile heavyweights.
In one corner: Guilherme Marchi, who had clinched the Built Ford Tough Series world title during the previous performance.
In the other corner: Bones, who was in the running for the world’s top bull award.
After Marchi hunkered down into a starting position atop Bones and asked for the gate to swing open, Bones bolted from the chute, moved to the right, made his routine toward-the-ceiling kicks, and then moved the opposite direction.
It was all too much for Marchi, who was on the ground in 4 seconds and denied the coveted average buckle. But Bones so impressed the judges and received enough points to win the PBR’s Bull of the Year title.
Like the first World Finals in 1994, when Branger was dumped from Bodacious, fans witnessed a match between a two popular athletes with a coveted title at stake. It’s one of several common threads between the 1994 and the 2008 World Finals that helps make the annual championships a big hit with fans.
“In 15 years, we’ve gone from minimum to maximum,” said Michael Gaffney, the 1997 PBR World Champion, who now serves as a commentator on the national telecasts. “Everything - from the purse, to the better bulls to the sponsorships to the fan base. Every aspect of the business has grown by leaps and bounds.”
By comparison, the first World Finals offered competitors a $275,000 purse and consisted of three rounds. The 2008 championships paid out more than $1.2 million over eight rounds, plus the World Champion received a $1 million bonus.
Cody Lambert, the PBR’s longtime livestock director, said the World Finals has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1994.
“The thing that we were trying to achieve then was to give every rider a competitive opportunity and to see the best guys get paid the most,” Lambert said. “We wanted to expose the very best guys to the fans and present it as a professional sport, a real sport where the fans can follow it. We wanted to reward greatness in this sport and we still do that.”
During the 2008 championships, there was the implementation of the draft, the first-year system that allowed competitors to select the bull that they would face in the upcoming round. And there also was the American Bucking Bulls Inc. events that awarded big cash prizes to the owners of the top bulls ages two, three and four. Neither the draft of the ABBI was on the radar screen during the first World Finals.
Moraes, who retired at the end of the 2008 World Finals, said he’s moved by the burgeoning growth.
“I’m so happy that we’ve been able to take that leap in such a short period of time,” Moraes said. “We’ve grown up immensely. And that makes me glad for newcomers who will see the money increase even more.”
The PBR was founded on matching high-profile bulls and riders. But there are four other common threads that existed at both the 1994 and the 2008 championships, foundational elements that have made the Las Vegas championships a big hit with fans for the past 15 years.
*A noticeable international presence.
A Brazilian was crowned as the World Champion at both the 1994 and 2008 World Finals.
Today, it’s very common for Brazilians to win big in the PBR. But in 1994, Brazilian bull riders were not taken very seriously. At the time, Canada and Australia were viewed as the two other nations outside of the United States that could produce a world-class cowboy.
For example, Canadian Cody Snyder had won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s 1983 world bull riding title and Dave Appleton became the first Australian to win a world title in 1988, when the bronc rider from Down Under clinched the all-around buckle.
But Brazilians weren’t viewed as world title contenders until Moraes made his arrival in the early 1990s.
Moraes clinched the PBR’s first world title in 1994 by rallying at the PBR’s inaugural World Finals. When the title was at stake, Moraes posted an 88.5 to win the final round at what then was called the Professional Bull Riders Bud Light Cup Championships.
Moraes, who entered the championships in second place in the world standings, rode clean during the final round on a spinning bull named Gist Buckle. His 88.5 was the highest marking of the championships that featured 46 of the world's top bull riders.
Moraes also finished second in the average on three bulls with a 248.5, a half-point behind winner Ted Nuce of Escalon, Calif.
In the annual title race, Moraes edged out Branger for the cup title, which was decided on a point system from eight regular-season events and the championships. Moraes outpointed Branger, 3,968.5 to 3,795.
It was a mere prelude of things to come.
Fast forward to the 2008 Finals. Marchi, a Brazilian who is walking in Moraes’ bootsteps, was crowned as the World Champion after dominating throughout the season.
Marchi clinched the title after staying on his bull on Nov. 8 during Round Six, with two rounds remaining. As Marchi readied himself to face the bull Rewind, announcers had fans on high alert that Marchi could clinch the gold buckle if he could stay on. After Marchi rose to the occasion by turning in an 87, a group of Brazilians, wearing green shirts, stormed into the arena, waved the country’s flag and joined Marchi on stage.
After clinching the world title, Marchi earned a $1 million bonus, a coveted prize that the PBR World Champion has received since 2003.
Today, Marchi and Moraes are among three Brazilians who have claimed a PBR world title. The other cowboy is Ednei Caminhas, who won in 2002.
Brazilians have now claimed five of 15 PBR world titles. Moraes has a record three (1994, 2001 and 2006) and Marchi and Caminhas each have one.
The only other cowboy who has claimed a world title outside of the United States is 1998 World Champion Troy Dunn, from Australia.
Moraes said he’s grateful that the PBR worked closely with him and his fellow Brazilian competitors over the years.
“If the PBR hadn’t opened the doors and welcomed all of us here, nothing of this would have happened,” Moraes said. “We also have to give thanks to (the Unites States of) America. It’s such a great country. It doesn’t matter your skin color or where you come from. If you are good, you are welcomed into this great country. That’s why we’re here and that’s why we’re here to stay.”
*A national television contract.
Even when the PBR World Finals was a two-day, three-round show, organizers had the national TV cameras rolling. The first PBR World Finals was broadcast on The Nashville Network, which was very popular at the time among rodeo fans who regularly tuned in to watch the Mesquite Championship Rodeo.
This year, the first six World Finals performances were broadcast live on Versus. The last show was a live NBC Sunday afternoon broadcast.
*A high-profile title sponsor.
Even when the PBR was in its first season and in its formative years, its savvy organizers had roped in a title sponsor that was recognizable: Bud Light.
Today, Built Ford Tough is the title sponsor of the PBR’s top-tier tour and the company thrives on sponsoring a growing sports business.
But in 1994, it was a much bigger challenge for an upstart organization such as the PBR to garner support.
“Hats off to Bud Light and TNN - they stepped in with big sponsorship and big TV coverage,” said Brian Herman, who qualified for the first PBR World Finals in 1994. “I remember how we were getting mistaken with the Mesquite Rodeo that was on TV every week. But eventually, people were able to separate the two. And here we are today.
“Now, the World Finals is a big event,” Herman added. “But back then (in 1994), it felt like a regular bull riding, more like a regular-season bull riding. Now, it’s an event. People come. They’re into it. The casinos are full of fans and there’s lots of TV.”
*A venue that commands respect.
When the PBR conducted its first World Finals at the MGM Grand Garden, it was a highly touted venue that had featured big-time boxing matches and concerts.
“Right before we had our Finals, you had Barbara Streisand play to the tune of millions of dollars” at the MGM, said seven-time World All-Around Champion Ty Murray, a PBR founding father. “At the time, the MGM Grand was the brand new, biggest thing going on in Vegas. That’s where all of the buzz and all of the talk was and that’s where we had our event.”
Murray said the organizers viewed the inaugural World Finals as the start of something big.
“At the time, it didn’t seem like small-time peanuts,” Murray said. “It’s like starting anything. Little success feels like big success, and so we felt like we were making strides in the right direction and it just kept building. Now, looking back, I’m still pretty proud of it, but it looks like a big change when you look at some of the old footage.”
The PBR conducted its first five editions of the World Finals at the MGM Grand. In 1999, the World Finals moved to the Thomas & Mack Center, another Las Vegas icon. For the past 10 years, the World Finals have been either totally or partially conducted at Thomas & Mack, the high-profile venue that sits at a main entrance of the bustling McCarran International Airport.
In 2004, organizers added a first weekend with performances held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. The second weekend was conducted at the Thomas & Mack Center. And adding three extra performances also swelled the number of rounds from five to eight.
But in 2008, organizers moved the first weekend performances from the Mandalay Bay Events Center to the Thomas & Mack Center. That meant all seven performances were conducted at T&M for the first time ever.
And it worked. The attendance during the Oct. 31-Nov. 2 and Nov. 6-9 was a record 116,177 .
“When we were at the MGM, we thought that was the best thing going,” said Gilbert Carrillo, who competed in the 1994 edition. “But now look at it. It’s at the Thomas & Mack Center and filling it with 18,000 people. Unbelievable!”
