At PBR events around the country, fans in the stands are wont to stand up, pour a cold one into their boot, and drink up.
Last Saturday night at sold-out Madison Square Garden, the brew went into one fan’s adidas, and the crowd went nuts just the same.
PBR threw a party this past weekend at The Garden, and a sporting event broke out.
This utterly unique hybrid in the sports industry – the height of athletic competition (150-pound lightweight cowboy trying to hold onto a heavyweight bull born to buck for 8 seconds) wrapped in raucous entertainment (“Cowboy Karaoke” was hilarious) playing into red-hot Western lifestyle (Daisy Dukes in Manhattan in the winter!) was on full display for the 17th time in New York. The energy and noise level keeps rising each year.
New Yorkers may be abrupt, but they are also very discerning. They recognize and appreciate good entertainment. They’ll cheer loudly for great performances. Conversely, stink up the joint and, well, there’s a reason it’s called “The Bronx Cheer.”
There was ample cheering for the cowboys and bulls inside MSG this weekend, and it wasn’t the Bronx kind.
Austin Richardson, an earnest 23-year-old Texan hoisted the one-of-a-kind Charging Bull Trophy on Sunday afternoon, his second straight win following Albany over New Year’s weekend. It’s a good bet that versus venues in Texas and Oklahoma, the number of fans at The Garden able to reel off Richardson’s stats is a lot smaller.
For PBR the trick is to convert those who probably joked “this is my first rodeo.” Once a year in New York has been a challenge. But that will change.
On Saturday night, after 9 p.m. when the “regular crowd” sang along with Flint Rassmussen and Billy Joel\’s \”Piano Man\”, the scoreboard flashed an intriguing tease: Brooklyn is next, August 9. PBR is mum on details, but on August 9-10, a big-time bull riding event in the borough was confirmed.
Additional exposure in the nation’s largest media market will help a sport that’s been banging at the door to the mainstream for the past few years, particularly after being acquired by Endeavor in 2015.
Endeavor’s 160over90 has signed as PBR’s new branding agency of record, which is launching the organization’s first national brand marketing campaign themed “It’s Bull Time.” Within the campaign is this well-received short film written and directed by Cole Hauser, who plays Rip Wheeler on “Yellowstone.”
The much-ballyhooed Endeavor flywheel was in full action over the weekend when UFC Legend Cowboy Cerrone threw down a challenge to ride Dana White’s Twisted Steel, one of the rankest bulls on tour.
Yes, Dana White owns a bull, and the wild and uninhibited Twisted Steel is a good match to his owner’s personality. (The observation “dogs are like their owners” can hold with bulls!). We can expect a lot of Endeavor-generated buzz for this insane matchup. PBR is said to be holding a spot within its World Finals at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboy, on Saturday May 18, the night after PBR co-produces Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo.
Corporate support follows fan passion. Sportico reported PBR is on a sponsorship roll with that business increasing 50 percent since the pandemic, including a dozen new deals heading into NYC.
The spate of new business was headlined by Anheuser-Busch’s ULTRA becoming the new official beer. The deal was announced at the New York Stock Exchange as A-B (NYSE: BUD) and PBR’s parent company Endeavor (NYSE: EDR) rang the opening bell to shouts of “Yellowstone!”
Also of note, Monster Energy, which became an official partner in 2013, and presented the MSG event for the 12th time, has become the first sponsor of every one of the individual teams in the new bull riding league that now fills the second half of the calendar year with five-on-five bull riding games.
Both A-B and Monster have ubiquitous retail distribution and really know how to activate their partnerships. This should help PBR gain awareness off the dirt, where two new PBR Bars are set to open in 2024, bringing the number to 17 total.
We were lucky enough to have a Bull’s Eye view of everything on Friday night for a while, sitting in “The Shark Cage,” which is akin to sitting behind the pitchers mound in baseball. And speaking of baseball, there, as a guest of chairman of the Board of Directors of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (and owner of some of the best bulls in the PBR) Jane Forbes Clark was MLB legend Dave Winfield. Also proving that a night around the deep dirt at MSG has something for everyone. It is again, along with the sponsorship of the US Border Patrol, something that is all PBR.
You can hear PBR head of consumer products John Sohigian speak about how the sport has succeeded in food & beverage when other leagues and networks have struggled, and more, on this podcast of The CUSP Show.
Quite a start for the season, with another trip back to the Apple this summer.
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