Sports Business Journal Publisher and Executive Editor Abe Madkour led his SBJ publisher’s letter this week with a prediction that the eight team franchises in the newly announced PBR Team Series will fast increase in value.
As you know, we’ve been a fan in this column of PBR’s storytelling, commitment to its on-the-dirt product, and overall growth.
One of the successful businessmen who has bought a PBR team is Thomas Tull of Teton Ridge. Tull, a visionary entrepreneur and textbook disruptor, is the founder and former CEO of Legendary Entertainment, which made blockbuster films such as The Dark Knight, Watchmen, Superman Returns, The Hangover franchise, Godzilla, and We Are Marshall.
Now through his new company Teton Ridge, he is making a big play into western lifestyle and sports, and it goes beyond owning the Arizona Ridge Riders in the new PBR Team Series bull riding league.
For one, in relatively quiet fashion, last September Teton Ridge acquired The American, the world’s richest one-day rodeo, which will be paired with PBR’s Global Cup on the weekend of March 5-6 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington Texas. (In a brilliant crossover move, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill of the new series 1883, the prequel to Yellowstone, will be performing at The American).
Many outside of western sports may not have heard of The American, but with this year’s unprecedented total purse of more than $3 million, the rodeo’s payout now rivals that of the Kentucky Derby.
Tied to Tull’s push to bring western sports to the national stage, Teton Ridge also bought Better Barrel Races, which hosts the largest and highest-paying divisional world finals exclusive to barrel racing and has paid out over $113 million, primarily to women rodeo athletes.
And now this week, in an announcement largely ignored by sports press still hyperventilating over the past weekend’s scintillating NFL playoff games, Tull’s pioneering new western entertainment brand announced a broadcast partnership with leading national cable network INSP, which will air The American, live on Sunday March 6 at 4 p.m. ET., as well as a new rodeo reality television series.
In the weeks leading up to The American, INSP, which is available in 62 million homes nationwide, will also broadcast Teton Ridge’s new unscripted original series, “Guts and Glory.”
The five-episode series (whose official trailer can be found HERE) chronicles twelve rodeo athletes competing in saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping and barrel racing challenges for a life-changing shot at millions in prize money at The American competing alongside icons of the sport, in the rodeo’s unique pro vs. amateur format.
Hosting and judging “Guts and Glory” are western sports legend J.B. Mauney and esteemed barrel racer Tammy Fischer.
Mauney, a two-time PBR World Champion regarded by some as the GOAT in bull riding, is a virtual walking, talking Marlboro Man. He oozes cowboy toughness and try. And his unending dry witticisms, delivered in a southern-fried North Carolina accent, could make him a star well beyond the rodeo world.
Fischer, a world champion professional barrel racer and trainer since 1994, is said to be a good complement to Mauney’s larger-than-life swagger.
The winner of “Guts and Glory” will battle it out against other qualifying athletes for a chance to move on to AT&T Stadium and the opportunity to become a champion, earning what could be the biggest single-day paycheck of their careers.
Ultimately the Top 10 athletes who make it to The American’s final field on March 6 will be eligible for their respective discipline’s $100,000 prize money and will also have their shot at the bonus millions – making the stakes higher than ever for these hopefuls.
Bull riding, the final discipline in rodeo competition, has proven to be a successful standalone sport, thanks to PBR’s efforts, great support from CBS and Pluto TV, and personalities like Mauney.
Can rodeo – typically a decentralized amalgamation of events of differing size and quality – chart similar growth?
One positive indicator happened last Fall.
In late October, more than 2.3 million tuned in to watch the 2021 Women’s Rodeo World Championship on CBS. This giant audience was a pivotal moment in rodeo history – reportedly the most-viewed rodeo in the history of television.
With savvy entrepreneurs like Thomas Tull investing in the wide-open opportunity present in the western sports and lifestyle space, it’s worth keeping an eye on Teton Ridge in all their new forays in western sports, rodeo and beyond.
