Tickets on Sale for the Built Ford Tough Series Debut in San Jose, California

PUEBLO, Colo. (July 12, 2016) – The PBR’s (Professional Bull Riders) 2016 Built Ford Tough Series will stop in the Bay Area on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 15-16 for the San Jose Invitational.  It will be the BFTS’s first-ever visit to San Jose and SAP Center, home of the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks.

Each night, the Top 35 bull riders in the world will face off with the rankest bulls in the business for the most electrifying, heart-stopping 8 seconds in all of sports.  These gutsy, 150-pound cowboys will be holding on tight to 2,000 pounds of sheer muscle in hopes of claiming the $30,000 event winner’s check and the valuable points they need to become the 2016 PBR World Champion.

After the event’s 35 athletes take on their bovine opponents in Round 1 on Saturday, fans will be able to enjoy the PBR’s 15/15 Bucking Battle. A special round of competition, the 15/15 Bucking Battle features the Top 15 men in the world facing the Top 15 bulls in the competition for a chance to earn additional money and PBR world standings bonus points.  This will be the last 15/15 Bucking Battle of the season and will air on CBS Television Network on Sunday, Oct. 16 at either 3-4 p.m. ET or 5-6 p.m. ET. Check local listings for more details.

Two-time and reigning PBR World Champion J.B. Mauney is expected to compete in San Jose, alongside three-time World Champion Silvano Alves(2011-12, 2014), 2008 World Champion Guilherme Marchi and 2004 World Champion Mike Lee.

The San Jose line-up also includes the hottest young guns the PBR BFTS has seen in years, including the leading 2016 PBR Rookie of the Year contender, 20-year-old Derek Kolbaba of Walla Walla, Washington, 18-year-old phenom Jess Lockwood (Volborg, Montana), Melton, Montana’s Nevada Newman and 2015 PBR World Finals event winner Cooper Davis(Jasper, Texas).

Tickets for this two-day debut at the “Shark Tank” will go on sale this Friday, July 15 at 10 a.m. PT at the SAP Center ticket office, all Ticketmaster locations, ticketmaster.com and via phone at (800) 745-3000.  Prices range from $15 to $101.

For an enhanced PBR experience, fans can now purchase PBR Elite Seats, which provide a behind-the-scenes look into the toughest sport on dirt. This once-in-a-lifetime experience includes early entry; tickets to a premium seating section; a catered reception; a 60-minute, backstage tour by a PBR Host, featuring a PBR 101 presentation and visit with the sport’s fiercest bulls; and the opportunity for photos and autographs from the top PBR stars. After the event, PBR Elite Seat ticketholders also will be given premium dirt access, where they can get their complimentary 8 Seconds PBR program, Elite Seat lanyard and other memorabilia autographed by the Top 35 bull riders in the world.

The PBR Elite Seats are available for $350 and can only be purchased by contacting the PBR Customer Service Department at 800-732-1727.

The San Jose Invitational is the 25^th of 26 stops on the 2016 BFTS schedule. It will be one of the last opportunities for these athletes to qualify for the $2.3 million PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals which takes place just a few weeks later on Nov. 2-6, at Las Vegas’ new T-Mobile Arena.

The BFTS is televised every week on CBS, CBS Sports Network – the home of the PBR and networks around the world. This season the PBR on CBS has seen a 20 percent increase in viewership over the same events in 2015, according to Nielsen. BFTS telecasts are produced for the PBR under a multi-year agreement with David Neal Productions, a Los Angeles-based production company led by 34-time Emmy® Award winner and Peabody Award winner David Neal, who serves as executive producer.