By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
UFC might be Endeavor’s most famous sports asset, but it was the company’s other sports property — the Professional Bull Riders — that staged the first live sports event during the pandemic in Oklahoma in April and plans to hold the country’s first major indoor sports event with fans during the COVID-19 health crisis in South Dakota in July.
PBR is no stranger to Las Vegas. The bull-riding cowboys show up annually for their world championship at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip.
But during the coronavirus pandemic both the cage fighters of UFC and the boot-wearing cowboys of PBR are having a harmonic sports convergence here in Las Vegas this weekend as the Las Vegas-based MMA promotion stages UFC 250 with superstar Amanda Nunes at the UFC Apex building on ESPN Saturday while the bull riders start four weeks of team competition at the South Point Arena on the CBS Sports Network every weekend this month.
PBR will not have fans at the South Point Arena, but it is drawing revenue from its media deal with CBS Sports Network and its corporate sponsors. PBR’s four-week stay even has its own title sponsor deal — the Monster Energy Team Challenge.
There is also another strong sponsorship element to the PBR action. The bull riders will join 12 teams, each sponsored by a brand receiving a team patch on the riders’ vests and armband logos. Riders will represent a dozen teams sponsored by Ariat, Boot Barn, Caterpillar, Cooper Tires, Can-Am, Las Vegas, Lucas Oil, Pendleton Whisky, South Point, Union Home Mortgage, Wrangler and YETI. Plus, sponsors will also receive visibility in arena takeovers throughout the “Pendleton Whisky Let ‘er Buck Saloon” television set comprised of 880 LED panels.
After the four weekends of action at South Point, PBR moves to the 12,000-seat Sanford Denny Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota where fans are allowed to attend the bull riding competition. PBR Commissioner Sean Gleason told LVSportsBiz.com that he expects the arena to be filled to about 37 percent of capacity in South Dakota.
“We’ll take it slow. We’ll take extra precautions,” Gleason said Thursday.
A newsworthy part of the South Dakota PBR event is that the state and local officials are returning standards to pre-COVID-19, so PBR could theoretically fill the 12,000 seats at the arena in Sioux Falls. But PBR wants to be on the safe side, Gleason said. Fans will be offered masks, though they will not be required to wear them. There will be also social distancing, as only two pods of fans will sit in each row.
“We’ve had to make this up as we go along,” Gleason explained. “It’s up to the health departments to advise us.”
Here is the complete one-on-one streaming interview with Gleason Thursday:
Gleason expects about 5,000 fans to be in the arena in South Dakota paying an average price ticket of $43, which means PBR would generate a gate of $215,000 on each of the three days. That’s $645,000 for the three-day event July 10-12 a week after Independence Day.
During the four weeks at South Point in June, the hotel hopes to have sports betting available for the team competitions, said Ryan Growney, South Point general manager.
“They’re working on it,” Growney said.
Here’s the complete LVSportsBiz.com interview with Growney Thursday morning.
Local media will now be allowed to report on the PBR events at South Point as only 160 staffers and cowboys — and bulls — will be allowed to be part of the competition. Riders will be tested with “bubble” spaces isolating participants.
UFC allowed LVSportsBiz.com to be one of three reporters allowed inside the UFC Apex facility to watch the fight night event May 30. In all, there was about 15 media members covering Saturday’s event — a small percentage of the number of reporters typically granted credentials to report on UFC fight shows. LVSportsBiz.com’s Cassandra Cousineau will be at Saturday’s UFC 250 event, which includes Nunes fighting in front of no fans in a cage inside the Apex.
*
COVID-19 is on the minds of everyone, especially the workers at the Raiders stadium construction site where employees are required to wear masks on site. Here’s a look at the Al Davis memorial torch getting some sun and air at the stadium site Thursday.
Follow LVSportsBiz.com on Twitter and Instagram. Like LVSportsBiz.com on Facebook.