PBR Team Series Preseason Schedule and Competition Format
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – The PBR Team Series will feature two preseason events before the regular-season opener in Cheyenne, Wyoming (July 25-26). The first is the PBR Dakota Community Bank & Trust’s PBR Team Series Preseason Event in Bismarck, North Dakota, on June 17-18.
Both events will be streamed live on RidePass on Pluto TV.
Following Bismarck, PBR Teams will also compete in head-to-head, five-on-five bull riding games in Tryon, North Carolina, at the PBR Tryon Chute Out: PBR Team Series Preseason Event on June 24-25.
What will the preseason events look like?
All eight PBR Teams – Austin Gamblers, Arizona Ridge Riders, Carolina Cowboys, Kansas City Outlaws, Nashville Stampede, Missouri Thunder, Texas Rattlers and Oklahoma Freedom – will send riders to compete in two games at each event (one game per night).
Bismarck Game Schedule
Friday, June 17 (8:30 p.m. ET RidePass on Pluto TV)
Texas Rattlers vs. Carolina Cowboys
Oklahoma Freedom vs. Austin Gamblers
Nashville Stampede vs. Kansas City Outlaws
Missouri Thunder vs. Arizona Ridge Riders
The head-to-head games will feature each team selecting five riders to match up against five bulls assigned to their team. The team with the highest aggregate score will be your game winner. Ties will be allowed.
The same process will be repeated on Saturday night, with an additional four games taking place before a Bonus Round.
Saturday, June 18 (8:30 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV)
Arizona Ridge Riders vs. Texas Rattlers
Carolina Cowboys vs. Missouri Thunder
Kansas City Outlaws vs. Oklahoma Freedom
Austin Gamblers vs. Nashville Stampede
In the Bonus Round, each team will select one rider to attempt to ride one more bull. This rider does not have to be one of the five riders who competed earlier in his team’s respective games and instead can be an alternate (bench) rider.
The Bonus Round is independent of the results of that weekend’s previous games and only applies to the overall event standings in the case of a tie.
Teams receive bonus points based on their rider’s placement in the Bonus Round: 1st (8 points), 2nd (7 points), 3rd (6 points), 4th (5 points), 5th (4 points), 6th (3 points), 7th (2 points), 8th (1 point). Teams will be placed via ride score and then buckoff time.
The overall event-winning team in Bismarck and Tryon will be the team with the best overall win-loss record. In the event of a tie in the event standings, a team’s bonus points will be the first tiebreaker. If there is still a tie, the second tiebreaker will be the team’s total aggregate score from its two games. The next and final tiebreaker will be combined buckoff time from a team’s games.
The preseason does not affect the PBR Team Series championship race and standings. These games are strictly exhibitions for the eight teams to prepare for the upcoming season.
Five of the eight first-round draft picks from the 2022 PBR Team Series Draft, presented by ZipRecruiter, are slated to compete in Bismarck – Daylon Swearingen, Dalton Kasel, Colten Fritzlan, Eli Vastbinder and Cody Jesus.
Here are the riders tentatively slated to ride in Bismarck for their respective teams
| Rider | Team |
| Alex Marcilio | AUS Gamblers |
| Blake Smith | AUS Gamblers |
| Conner Halverson | AUS Gamblers |
| Dakota Louis | AUS Gamblers |
| Griffin Smeltzer | AUS Gamblers |
| Chase Dougherty | AZ Ridge Riders |
| Josh Steele | AZ Ridge Riders |
| Koltin Hevalow | AZ Ridge Riders |
| Ross Freeman | AZ Ridge Riders |
| Tyce Willis | AZ Ridge Riders |
| Daylon Swearingen | CAR Cowboys |
| Junior Patrik Souza | CAR Cowboys |
| Lane Nobles | CAR Cowboys |
| Mason Taylor | CAR Cowboys |
| Wingson Henrique da Silva | CAR Cowboys |
| Bob Mitchell | KC Outlaws |
| Cole Melancon | KC Outlaws |
| Dalton Kasel | KC Outlaws |
| Dustin Martinez | KC Outlaws |
| Marcus Mast | KC Outlaws |
| Tate Pollmeier | KC Outlaws |
| Trace Brown | KC Outlaws |
| Andrew Alvidrez | MO Thunder |
| Clayton Sellars | MO Thunder |
| Colten Fritzlan | MO Thunder |
| Jesse Petri | MO Thunder |
| Leandro Machado | MO Thunder |
| Aaron Williams | NSH Stampede |
| Jaxton Mortenson | NSH Stampede |
| Matt Triplett | NSH Stampede |
| Ryan Dirteater | NSH Stampede |
| Thiago Salgado | NSH Stampede |
| Briggs Madsen | OK Freedom |
| Caden Bunch | OK Freedom |
| Deklan Garland | OK Freedom |
| Eli Vastbinder | OK Freedom |
| Kyle McDaniel | OK Freedom |
| Brady Oleson | TX Rattlers |
| Cody Jesus | TX Rattlers |
| Ednei Caminhas | TX Rattlers |
| Ednélio Almeida | TX Rattlers |
| Rafael Jose de Brito | TX Rattlers |
| Travis Wimberly | TX Rattlers |
*Teams will submit their starting lineups for Friday night’s games before the Bismarck event.
Tryon Game Schedule
Friday, June 24 (8 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV)
Arizona Ridge Riders vs. Nashville Stampede
Austin Gamblers vs. Missouri Thunder
Carolina Cowboys vs. Oklahoma Freedom
Kansas City Outlaws vs. Texas Rattlers
Saturday, June 25 (Rivalry Saturday / 7 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV)
Missouri Thunder vs. Kansas City Outlaws
Oklahoma Freedom vs. Arizona Ridge Riders
Texas Rattlers vs. Austin Gamblers
Nashville Stampede vs. Carolina Cowboys
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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