Can Bull Riding be The Road to Success on Merit Street?

The media world is all abuzz with the NBA deals that now appear imminent…but let’s look elsewhere again for those looking to find an audience on platforms where they were not before. Case in point, Dr. Phil’s 300+ Hour Commitment to PBR Starts that starts this Weekend

When PBR announced a landmark media rights agreement in May to bring the lion’s share of its events to Merit Street Media, CEO Sean Gleason called it a game changer that would supercharge exposure for the sport.

Merit’s COO and programming chief Joel Cheatwood predicted PBR’s fan base would flock to the new network already in 80 million homes, particularly helping grow male viewership.

As many successful business leaders have said, vision and strategy without flawless execution are just nice words.

PBR’s new era on television and streaming begins its execution phase this evening when “Dr. Phil Primetime” introduces the sport to Merit viewers with a full immersion into what McGraw called “a sport that represents the absolute heart and soul of America.”

In typical fashion, Dr. Phil finds the struggle and the tragedy, the perseverance leading to triumph.

There’s Daylon Swearingen, whose mother was brutally shot in the head by her estranged husband when he was five years old. Carrie Swearingen’s gritty recovery was her son’s inspiration to battle through pain and injury to a PBR world title.

Affable Cody Jesus grew up on an Indian reservation without electricity and running water. He took some of his bull riding earnings back to Arizona to build an arena for other kids to ride their way out of poverty just as he did.

Throwback rebel J.B. Mauney, at the top of the mountain as the sport’s biggest all-time earner, broke his neck flying off a bull, and when the doctor outlined the options of risk the rest of your life in a wheelchair or die, he looked at his wife and young son, and decided the dream was over.

All quintessential Dr. Phil. One can’t come away anything but moved by these determined athletes. Their never-quit credo may inspire some in their own lives.

But can stories like this turn Dr. Phil’s audience into bull riding fans?

After that warmup to pique viewer interest, at midnight eastern tonight, “PBR Now,” a one-hour weekly news and information show debuts on Merit Street. 

Then on Friday, the 2024 PBR Camping World Team season starts with Merit carrying all four games from Oklahoma City, doing the same on Saturday and Sunday, as well as pre-and post game coverage all three days. 

Merit says every game day in the 12-event season leading to the late October championship in Las Vegas will have pre- and post-game shows.

In all, it will be a massive commitment of more than 300 hours of bull riding on Dr. Phil’s new network, which also streams all its programming free on the Merit+ app.

Complementing Merit, PBR remains on CBS Television Network with 23 hours this year, including a “Game of the Week” most Sundays, increasing to 25 hours in future years.

The sheer number of total hours on Merit and CBS will help with what any emerging sport needs most – building new stars. Look no further than Caitlin Clark for how that’s working out for the WNBA.

PBR says that heading into the opening weekend of the new Teams season, ticket sales are up 35% over 2023. They’re particularly high on a crop of breakout star riders headlined by radiant 22-year-old Cassio Dias, who won the 2023 individual championship a week after being blackboarded out of the area and hospitalized, with 18-year-old prodigy John Crimber finishing close behind.

Those riders will visit Brooklyn when one of the two expansion teams joining the league, The New York Mavericks, host their inaugural homestand at Barclays Center Aug 9-10. The challenge for PBR is if you went out to Atlantic Avenue in front of the arena and asked 100 people who Dias and Crimber are, I’m predicting 100 blank stares. 

The sport now has a brand-new media partner fronted by America’s favorite therapist with the task of building awareness for those stars and educating fans where to watch.

They’re making that easier by creating regular consistent broadcast windows – 9 PM ET Friday and Saturday and 3 PM ET on Sunday, with limited exceptions.

Overall, the television tonnage, the creative storytelling, and the true enthusiasm for the cowboys and the bulls that starts with McGraw and permeates the talent, producers, and technical crew throughout his sparking new studios in Fort Worth feels like a smart strategy that a doctor of sports marketing might create. And now, it’s all in the execution starting this weekend. We will be watching.