TULSA, Okla. (July 13, 2010) - The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) and VERSUS are excited to announce that this weekend, for the first time in history, the Built Ford Tough Series will be broadcast live online at www.pbr.tv and www.versus.com.
Fans will be able to watch every ride from the Express Classic presented by Cooper Tires and brought to you locally by Troy-Bilt and Blue-Emu in Tulsa, Okla., beginning with Round 1 at 9 p.m. ET on Friday, July 16. Round 2 will be shown at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 17, and Round 3 will be broadcast on Sunday, July 18, at 2 p.m. The broadcasts will also be available on demand following each performance.
It was also announced that VERSUS is producing a special one-hour show which will feature action from Tulsa as well as a look back at the first half of the 2010 BFTS season, to be broadcast later this month. VERSUS will air the special at 8 p.m. ET on July 30 and again at 7 p.m. ET on July 31, immediately before the resumption of its regular BFTS coverage at 8 p.m. ET with the Air Force Invitational broadcast live from San Antonio.
“We really appreciate VERSUS’ support and commitment to bring this event to our fans live. VERSUS’ obligations to the Tour de France make it impossible for this event to air live or even in the same weekend this season,” said PBR President/COO Sean Gleason.“VERSUS has been very generous in working with us to give our fans the best of both worlds, live coverage from Tulsa and a special one-hour show to help kick off their coverage of what is going to be one of the most exciting late-season races to the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas.”
The PBR is having the deepest title race in its history. In the first half of the season there were nine lead changes, with six different riders on top of the standings, including Renato Nunes (Buritama, Sao Paulo, Brazil), who is ranked first for the second time after posting his second victory of the year at Pueblo, Colo., in May.
The first 20 events have produced 15 different winners, including Austin Meier of Kinta, Okla., who has won a season-leading four events and enters Tulsa ranked second, only 660.75 points behind Nunes.For more information on the Professional Bull Riders, please visit www.pbr.com or contact Jack Carnefix at (719) 242-2800 or jcarnefix@pbrnow.com or Sara Broun at (719) 242-2800 or sbroun@pbrnow.com
About the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR)
More than 100 million viewers tune in each year to the PBR on VERSUS, NBC, CBS and television networks around the world. With approximately 400 hours of prime-time programming annually, the PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air. The PBR attracts nearly two million live event attendees each year with its marquee Built Ford Tough Series and the PBR Touring Pro Division. More than 1,200 PBR bull riders compete every year in approximately 300 PBR sanctioned competitions in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico. The PBR was nominated as 2010 Sports League of the Year at the Sports Business Journal Sports Business Awards alongside the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.
For more on the PBR, please visit www.pbr.com, www.teampbr.com, www.pbr.tv, www.myspace.com/teampbr, twitter.com/teampbr, or www.pbr.com/worldfinals/
