The sport of professional bull riding again takes over the Honda Center on Saturday and Sunday with the PBR Teams: Anaheim competition.
The Teams Series was launched by the PBR in 2022 as a bull riding league involving eight five-man teams. Of course, the basic objective of a rider staying on top of a bucking bull for eight seconds in order to earn a score hasn’t changed.
Anaheim is the third stop in the Team Series’ 11-event season, which began in July and culminates in October with the team championships in Las Vegas.
Standings are kept throughout the season and teams are seeded one-through-eight heading into the championships.
Competing in Anaheim will be the Austin Gamblers (5-0), Carolina Cowboys (4-1), Kansas City Outlaws (3-2), Oklahoma Freedom (3-2), Texas Rattlers (2-3), Missouri Thunder, (1-4) Arizona Ridge Riders (0-5) and the Nashville Stampede (0-5).
As in other sports, each team has its own colors and logos for fans to connect with.
“You can walk in as a casual fan, you can look at the colors and the logos,” said Matt West, PBR arena announcer, broadcaster and podcast host. “If you have a favorite bull rider, they’re on a team, you can pick the favorite team that you want to win in each game and now you’ve got something extra to cheer for.
“So, to me it adds such a new, compelling dynamic to it that I think, and I hope, will bring a lot more people and a lot more eyeballs to the sport,” he said. “And the (riders) love it.”
The Ridge Riders, who are still looking for their first victory this season, won the Anaheim event last year.
“A lot of people looked at them as the worst team, record wise, in the…
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