Nashville Rider Matchups and Bracket Revealed

PUEBLO, Colo. – The PBR competition department announced the 36 riders and the official bracket for this weekend’s Frontier Communications Music City Knockout, presented by Cooper Tires.

The event at Bridgestone Arena on Friday and Saturday is the last PBR Major of the 2016 season and is a pivotal event in regards to the 2016 PBR World Championship.

The Music City Knockout is the first of 10 remaining regular-season events before the 2016 Built Ford Tough World Finals on Nov. 2-6, which is part of PBR Finals Week.

The 36 riders will compete head-to-head in the bracket-style event until one rider is remaining.

Seedings are based upon the current 2016 world standings and the riders have been assigned to compete in one of three different brackets.

The fourth bracket has been deemed a Second Chance Bracket. This region will be based upon the Top 8 individual ride scores or buckoff times from the riders eliminated through the first four rounds of competition.

The eight eliminated riders will have a second opportunity to work through Second Chance Bracket to earn a spot in the Final Four with the three riders who win Regions 1-3.

*Riders may be seeded higher than their actual world ranking because of the injury to No. 20 Ben Jones (shoulder surgery).

The Top 12 riders in the world standings competing in the event have received a first-round bye for the 36-man tournament.

At the end of this article is a breakdown of how world standings points will be awarded in Nashville.

Round 1 matchups are listed below:

BRACKET A

No. 22 Cody Nance vs. No. 27 Chase Outlaw
No. 15 Mason Lowe vs. No. 33 Marco Eguchi
No. 21 Valdiron de Oliveira vs. No. 28 Cody Heffernan
No. 16 Lachlan Richardson vs. No. 33 Stormy Wing

BYES:

No. 3 Fabiano Vieira (Scheduled to face winner of Nance vs. Outlaw in Round 2)
No. 10 Mike Lee (Scheduled to face winner of Lowe vs. Eguchi in Round 2)
No. 4 Joao Ricardo Vieira (Scheduled to face winner of Oliveira vs. Heffernan in Round 2)
No. 9 Wallace de Oliveira (Scheduled to face winner of Richardson vs. Wing in Round 2)

BRACKET B

No. 23 Nevada Newman vs. No. 26 Kasey Hayes
No. 14 Jess Lockwood vs. No. 35 Justin Paton
No. 20 Rubens Barbosa vs. No. 29 Jorge Valdiviezo
No. 17 Gage Gay vs. No. 32 Kurt Shephard

BYES:

No. 2 J.B. Mauney (Scheduled to face winner of Newman vs. Hayes in Round 2)
No. 11 Derek Kolbaba (Scheduled to face winner of Lockwood vs. Paton in Round 2)
No. 5 Paulo Lima (Scheduled to face winner of Barbosa vs. Valdiviezo in Round 2)
No. 8 Cooper Davis (Scheduled to face winner of Gay vs. Shephard in Round 2)

BRACKET C

No. 24 Silvano Alves vs. No. 25 Tyler Harr
No. 13 Robson Palermo vs. No. 36 Fraser Babbington
No. 19 Stetson Lawrence vs. No. 30 Aaron Roy
No. 18 Guilherme Marchi vs. No. 31 Nathan Schaper

BYES:

No. 1 Kaique Pacheco (Scheduled to face winner of Alves vs. Harr in Round 2)
No. 12 Tanner Byrne (Scheduled to face winner of Palermo vs. Babbington in Round 2)
No. 6 Eduardo Aparecido (Scheduled to face winner of Lawrence vs. Roy in Round 2)
No. 7 Shane Proctor (Scheduled to face winner of Marchi vs. Schaper in Round 2)

World Standings Points

Event Champion:  The Head-to-Head Bracket Winner (625 points).  The rider who advances through the bracket system and defeats his opponent in the final head-to-head match. This is 225 points more than last season.

Ride Score Champion:  The rider with the highest cumulative ride score (300 points)  The rider with the highest aggregate ride score total from all rounds of competition, regardless of the number of bulls faced, will be named the Ride Score Champion (The Ride Score Champion can also be the Head-to-Head Bracket Winner). This is 60 points higher than last season.

Event Runner Up:  The Head-to-Head Runner Up (220 points).  The rider who loses in the final head-to-head match. This is 40 points higher than last season.

Final Four Qualifiers (125 points each):  Each of the four riders advancing to the Final Four. This is 25 points fewer than last season.

Round 4 Qualifiers (105 points each):  The six riders advancing to the fourth round in the competition brackets. This is five points higher than last season.

Final Two Riders from the Second Chance Bracket (60 points): The two riders advancing to the Elite Eight in the Second Chance Brackets (Round 4). This is a new edition for 2016.

Round 3 Qualifiers (50 points each): The 12 riders advancing to the third round in the original competition brackets. This is a new edition for 2016.

*Riders who advance through the Second Chance Bracket will not receive points or money unless they advanced to Round 4 as outlined above.

There is a total of 2,995 points available at the Music City Knockout. One rider can win a maximum of 1,205 points through the regular bracket. If a rider were to be eliminated in Round 4, but then sweep the competition via the Second CHance Bracket, he could earn 1,265 points.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko