Last Cowboy Standing Game Notes
By: Heather Croze
May 12, 2016
Current world No. 2 Joao Ricardo Vieira is the defending Last Cowboy Standing champion. Photo: Andy Watson/BullStockMedia.com
THIRD PBR MAJOR – The PBR’s Built Ford Tough Series will make its first stop in Las Vegas during the 2016 BFTS season for the third of four PBR majors, Tailgate Entertainment’s Last Cowboy Standing, part of Las Vegas Helldorado Days, presented by Monster Energy. The Las Vegas Village will host Last Cowboy Standing at 7:50 p.m. on both Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14.
PAST LAST COWBOY STANDING EVENT WINNERS – Last year, after five full rounds of competition, then No. 1 PBR bull rider in the world Joao Ricardo Vieira won the Last Cowboy Standing event. Neither Vieira nor Stetson Lawrence (LCS runner-up) covered their fourth or fifth round bull and per event rules, Vieira’s higher combined round points after all five rounds of competition earned him the win.
2015 Joao Ricardo Vieira
2014 Guilherme Marchi
2013 Silvano Alves
2012 Silvano Alves
2011 Luke Snyder
TIGHT COMPETITION – The world standings heading toward the PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals is among the tightest in PBR history. 16 riders are all within 1,000 points of the number one rider in the world standings.
BAD BOY MOWERS BOUNTY BULL: The Bad Boy Mowers Bounty Bull will be a PBR-designated bull in the Round 2 of the Last Cowboy Standing. The rider in the second round that draws the bounty bull and successfully covers it, will receive the $50,000 bonus award. In the event the ride is not completed, the $25,000 will carry over to the next BFTS Major in Nashville, making that bounty bull worth $75,000.
FORMAT – Last Cowboy Standing is a progressive-elimination format competition. Each of the Top 40 bull riders on the Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) will ride one bull in Round 1, aiming to make the 8-second buzzer. If a rider successfully covers his bull, he will advance to the next round. If he gets bucked off, he is finished. Through a minimum of two, and a maximum of five rounds, these athletes will continue to ride until one cowboy prevails and is declared the “Last Cowboy Standing,” earning a $100,000 payout, presented by Bad Boy Mowers.
POSSIBLE POINTS – The PBR Built Ford Tough Series will have four events designated as “Majors” this year. These events carry higher payouts and points than other regular-season PBR events, and take place in New York City, Arlington, Texas, Las Vegas and Nashville. All PBR Majors have 3,000 total points available compared to 2,015 at a two-day BFTS event and 2,415 at a three-day BFTS event.
ON TAP – The Built Ford Tough Series will take its annual summer break following Last Cowboy Standing. The BFTS resumes on Aug. 19-20 in Nashville, Tennessee, for the PBR’s fourth and final Major of the season, the Nashville Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires at Bridgestone Arena.
TELEVISION BROADCAST – The final rounds of Tailgate Entertainment’s Last Cowboy Standing competition will be aired on CBS Television Network on Sunday, May 15 at 4 p.m. ET. CBS Sports Network will also broadcast Round 1 of Last Cowboy Standing live on Friday, May 13 at 10:30 p.m. ET, including a 30-minute Inside the PBR Majors preshow presented by B&W Trailer Hitches.
PBR LIVE will also stream the entire event in real time starting on Friday and Saturday at 10:50 p.m. ET. PBR LIVE is now available at no charge to all fans and media. Visit www.PBR.com/live to view. Fans can also watch all of the action live via the PBR LIVE app, available for download now on Google Play and iTunes.
PROVIDING PROTECTION – The Dickies® Bullfighters this weekend are Jesse Byrne of Okotoks, Alberta; Shorty Gorham of Cotulla, Texas; and Frank Newsom of Paoli, Oklahoma.
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