Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas., PBR was founded in 1992 by a group of 20 visionary bull riders who broke away from the traditional rodeo scene, seeking mainstream attention, new riches and a livelihood for future generations of cowboys for the most popular discipline in rodeo, bull riding.
“We wanted to create a better product for the fans, so that when they tuned in they were seeing the best of the best every time,” said PBR co-founder and nine-time World Champion Ty Murray. “Those expectations have been exceeded immensely, and the fact that this sport continues to grow is a gratifying notion, one that supports all the hard work and dedication of every member of the PBR.”
The founders believed that bull riding deserved to be in the limelight and could succeed as a standalone sport. Each rider invested a hard-earned $1,000, some borrowing from family and friends, to start the PBR.
“This is the only sport in the world that I can take anyone to see, whether they know anything about it or not, and I guarantee you that they won’t be able to take their eyes off of it,” Murray said.
In 2007, Spire Capital Partners finalized a deal with PBR to acquire the interests of many of the retired founding riders and invest in the growth of the organization. Those first 20 bull riders had turned their $1,000 into millions.
800+ bull riders from around the world including the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico hold PBR memberships. They compete in more than 200 bull riding events each year on the nationally-televised Unleash The Beast, Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour and Touring Pro Division, in addition to those held by international divisions in Australia, Brazil, and Canada.
For every rider, the ultimate goal is to qualify for the PBR World Finals, the richest bull riding event on the planet, with the season champion receiving the gold World Championship buckle and $1 million bonus.
The 20 original founders took a substantial gamble when pooling their limited resources to fund the grassroots operation. Yet, the risk has certainly paid off. Investors like Spire Capital Partners and TKO Group Holdings, and partnerships with Monster Energy, U.S. Border Patrol, Pluto TV, Ram Trucks, and Cooper Tires, among others, have helped the PBR annually now award more than $15 million.
The success of PBR has made it one of the most prolific sports on television. The premier series is televised weekly on CBS Sports, CBS Sports Network, Paramount+ and networks around the world.
RidePass launched in 2018 as PBR’s over-the-top (OTT) digital network, establishing a new direct-to-consumer streaming presence for the sport.
Today, RidePass has evolved into a free 24/7 streaming channel, broadly distributed across leading platforms including The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Sling, Xumo Play, Fubo, FloSports, Vizio WatchFree+, and PBR’s mobile and connected TV apps.
The channel features nonstop bull riding, rodeo, and western sports content, and serves as the live home of the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour, PBR Ram Challenger Series, Stockyards Showcase at Cowtown Coliseum, Ultimate Bullfighters, and more.
Collectively, PBR broadcasts reach more than 405MM households in more than 91 territories. In the U.S., PBR broadcasts reached more than 30 million unique viewers in 2025.
The combination of incredible athleticism, raw sport and quality entertainment for the whole family has propelled live attendance growth. PBR welcomed more than 1.5 million fans to its events in 2025.
In 2020, following the onset of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and subsequent mass gathering restrictions, PBR pioneered the return of professional sports in North America, holding three made-for-television events in Guthrie, Oklahoma in late April and early May with new safety protocols implemented.
In the months that followed, the organization then launched the landmark Monster Energy Team Challenge, presented by U.S. Border Patrol, which culminated in welcoming back fans to an indoor arena for the first time in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in July. Backed by its industry-leading “Be Cowboy Safe” plan, PBR held nine fan-attended Unleash The Beast event weekends, and six Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour events, leading into the 2020 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast.
Relocated to Arlington, Texas, and AT&T Stadium due to COVID-19 protocols, the four-day 2020 PBR World Finals welcomed more than 43,000 socially distanced fans as the unique season came to a close. In 2021, PBR continued to propel the sport of bull riding to new heights. Among the many new initiatives undertaken in 2021, PBR announced a joint venture with ASM Global and Stockyards Heritage Development Co. to operate the historic Cowtown Coliseum and to expand entertainment programming and marketing partnerships within the National Historic District.
Prior to the 2025 World Finals, PBR reached a milestone in Fort Worth – the 100th Stockyards Showcase event on April 24, 2025. In showcasing great competition at the iconic Cowtown Coliseum, nearly $1.2M was paid out to athletes by the end of 2025.
Further reflecting the company’s expansion in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area, as part of a comprehensive 2022 schedule restructure for its premier series, PBR announced the relocation of its crown jewel, the World Finals, to Fort Worth.
As part of the relocation, PBR condensed the annual schedule for the Unleash The Beast, the 2022 season spanned January-May, with subsequent seasons scheduled for November-May. This allowed for the launch of a new league – PBR Teams, which debuted in June 2022.
Competing from June to November 2022 in its inaugural season, following the May conclusion of the Unleash The Beast, the league launched with eight founding teams playing a 10-weekend regular season culminating in a dramatic postseason tournament. Each team is based in a home market, playing host to an annual bull riding event and Western lifestyle festival. There are also two “neutral site” league-produced events, culminating in the season’s playoff gauntlet at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Following a successful 2023 campaign in the 5-on-5 landscape, the league welcomed two expansion teams -- the New York Mavericks and Oklahoma Wildcatters -- ahead of the 2024 season, extending the regular season schedule to feature 12 weekends of action leading into the PBR Teams Championship. The thriving league enters its fifth season in July 2026.
In 2025, PBR became part of TKO Group Holdings, joining WWE and UFC as part of a global leader in sports, entertainment, events and media.
Under new ownership, PBR’s digital and social presence has surged. On social media, digital followers grew to 14.6 million, generating more than 2.1 billion total impressions – up 104% over 2024.
As the leader in Western sports, PBR now has its sights set on transforming Women’s Rodeo. In late 2025, PBR officially launched PWR – Premier Women’s Rodeo, marking a full commitment to building the predominant long-term platform for women’s rodeo.
Under Commissioner Linsay Rosser Sumpter, PWR, the largest all-women’s rodeo, brings proven momentum: nearly $4.5 million paid to female athletes, the highest-rated rodeo telecast in history on CBS, and more than $800,000 in prize money to be awarded this May.
PWR is the only all-women, multi-discipline championship featuring Breakaway Roping, Barrel Racing, and Team Roping, with equal payouts across disciplines and a tiered Pro, Challenger, and Limited system that expands access while maintaining competitive parity for athletes ages 16+.
PBR has rapidly transformed one of the fastest-growing sports in America into a worldwide phenomenon. Capitalizing on the popularity of bull riding around the world, and the growing appeal of cowboy values, the PBR has attracted many international athletes who travel to the United States to compete exclusively in the world’s elite bull riding tour.
With cowboys continuing to enter the mainstream, extreme sports featuring jaw-dropping bursts of action all night long growing in popularity, world-class event production, PBR’s reach increasing across broadcast, cable and digital channels, and fan support continuing to grow, the sport’s future is very bright.