PBR Leaves T-Mobile Arena For Texas in November, But Mountain West and UNLV Football Are Back In October
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The 2020 Professional Bull Riders World Finals scheduled for November at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip is leaving Las Vegas because of the coronavirus pandemic and will be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas Nov. 12-15.
The prominent bull riding event, which offers a $1 million Monster Energy World Champion Bonus and coveted gold buckle to the PBR World Champion and a $300,000 check to the event winner, had originally been scheduled for the arena in Vegas like in past years Nov. 4-8.
But while, the world’s best bull riders are leaving Las Vegas because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mountain West Conference, which includes UNLV, has reversed course and is back this fall.
The Mountain West decided Aug. 10 to postpone its football because of the pandemic, but has voted to play a college football season this fall. The league has announced it will play a season which will feature eight games and begin on Oct. 24.
That means UNLV will be able to play in the new Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium after all under new head coach Marcus Arroyo.
For PBR, AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, is not new as the Colorado-based organization has staged events there annually for the last 10 years. The stadium hosted PBR as it set the sport’s largest single-day event attendance record, welcoming more than 46,000 fans in February 2018. The stadium also held two editions of the PBR Global Cup USA in 2019 and 2020.
“The PBR World Finals, the biggest event in bull riding, will crown our next champion rider and bull in the NFL’s largest stadium in the heart of cowboy country, giving fans the sport they love in a comfortable, socially distanced environment,” PBR Commissioner Sean Gleason said.
“We are very grateful to Governor Abbott and the state of Texas, who moved at lightning speed to make this happen, as well as our partners in the city of Arlington, the Visitors Bureau, and AT&T Stadium for welcoming PBR and our loyal fans for championship week.”
“When we heard about the potential opportunity to host PBR World Finals, we immediately began discussions to figure out a way to host this event,” added Dallas Cowboys Chief Operating Officer Stephen Jones. “We have an incredible relationship with PBR since the opening of our stadium and we’re as excited as ever to extend that relationship by providing a safe stadium environment for them to feature their sport once again.”
“We’re incredibly excited about PBR’s decision to bring its World Finals to The American Dream City as the sport continues its rich history at AT&T Stadium,” Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams said. “This larger-than-life, premier bull riding competition captivates an international audience and it’s the perfect fit for our world-class Entertainment District.”
“For the past 26 years, Las Vegas has been home to PBR’s action-packed season finale, and we have looked forward to hosting them as much as they have been eager to come to Vegas,” noted Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. “We look forward to welcoming PBR fans back to Las Vegas in Spring 2021 for more exciting bull riding action and Only-in-Vegas experiences and entertainment.”
