8 buck-wild seconds: PBR’s Unleash the Beast tour comes to Everett

Published 1:30 am Monday, April 4, 2022

EVERETT — It is, perhaps, the wildest eight seconds in sports.

And on Wednesday night it’s coming to Angel of the Winds Arena.

Professional Bull Riders (PBR) arrives Wednesday when it brings 35 of the world’s best bulls and riders to town as part of the Unleash the Beast tour.

Bull riding has come to Angel of the Winds in the past, but in those instances it was events on the Velocity Tour or Touring Pro Division, which are the equivalent of the bull riding minor leagues. This is the first time the PBR itself has come to Everett, meaning the big leaguers will be strutting their stuff in front of the local crowd.

“This is the best riders in the world, week after week, going head to head with the best bulls in the world,” PBR in-arena announcer Matt West said. “This is essentially an all-star game every single event.”

PBR started in 1993 when a group of top bull riders initiated an effort to break bull riding out from the traditional rodeo program so that it could be its own entity. Since then the tour has grown substantially. Events take place coast to coast and are televised by CBS and CBS Sports Network. The season’s purse numbers in the millions of dollars.

Riders come from all over the world, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Australia. The riders, most of whom grew up in the rodeo world, range in age from their late teens to their late 30s, though the majority are in their mid 20s — West described the sport as a young-man’s game because of the injuries sustained in falls.

The way the competition works is that the top 35 riders in the world will be on hand to ride the bulls, which are trucked in from across the western United States. Each of the 35 competitors rides a different bull in the first round, and if the rider stays on the bull’s back for eight seconds, he receives a score based on both the performance of the rider and the performance of the bull. The top 12 scores advance to the championship run, where the riders then get their choice from 12 of the best bulls, which are set aside for the finals. The highest score from the first round receives the first choice of which bull to ride in the finals. The competition typically lasts about two-and-a-half hours.

Among the favorites is the man West called “the elder statesman of the locker room,” Brazilian Joao Ricardo Vieira. The 37-year-old is the oldest rider on tour, and he’s also the current points leader. He’ll face stiff competition from his Brazilian compatriot Jose Vitor Leme, who is the two-time defending points champion, having earned in excess of $1.6 million each year. Walla Walla native Derek Kolbaba, currently 16th in points, will be the local favorite.

What about the bulls? The bulls used by PBR are now considered their own breed: the American Bucking Bull breed. This breed was developed specifically to buck with more ferocity.

So how much has that increased the degree of difficulty for the riders?

“Exponentially,” West answered. “The bulls continue to evolve and get more athletic. One misconception about the sport is that people don’t realize that these bulls are athletes. You can tell by looking at them and by the way they perform — and also in the way they’re treated. The guys and gals who own bulls go above and beyond to make sure they’re healthy, and their nutrition is highly studied.

“When you spend enough time around these bulls, you quickly realize they love what they do,” West added. “They’re trying to kick and spin and be athletic, it’s what they’re bred to do.”

Wednesday’s event is the rare weekday competition for PBR, which typically has multi-day events that take place on weekends. The Everett event is wedged between last weekend’s competition in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and this weekend’s event in Tacoma. About 40 truckloads of dirt will be brought in to Angel of the Winds Arena to create a 10-inch deep ground for the competition to take place upon. The event is scheduled to be televised on CBS Sports Network.

PBR

What: The Professional Bull Riders’ Unleash the Beast tour, featuring the best bull riders in the world

When: 7:45 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Angel of the Winds Arena, Everett

Admission: $15 and up