What to Watch For: 2022 PBR World Finals Format Breakdown & Title Race Implications

By: Justin Felisko

PUEBLO, Colo. – The 2022 PBR World Finals begins on Friday night at Dickies Arena. This year’s Finals will feature seven days of competition split over two weekends (eight total rounds) – a format the PBR last used in 2009.

In preparation for the PBR World Finals, here is a refresher on the new format, the world points available and other noteworthy items regarding the 2022 World Championship races.

All of the action from Dickies Arena will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network beginning Friday night with Round 1 (8 p.m. ET).

Rounds 1-3 take place May 13-15, while Rounds 4-8 take place May 19-22.

WORLD POINTS AVAILABLE

At the 2022 PBR World Finals, one rider can earn a maximum of 1,272 world points by winning every round (80 world points per round win), the event average (560 world points), and scoring 90 or more points each round in an 8-for-8 performance. Of course, that exact scenario is highly unlikely.

World No. 1 Daylon Swearingen begins the Finals with 884.49 world points. Therefore, mathematically, every rider competing at the World Finals is still alive in the world title race.

For a more realistic look, the Top 18 riders in the world standings are separated by a World Finals event average win (560 points).

World Points for Event Average Placement at the 2022 World Finals

1. 560
2. 350
3. 250
4. 150
5. 134
6. 114
7. 90
8. 62
9. 30
10. 15
11. 5
12. 4
13. 3
14. 2
15. 1

A round win at the World Finals is the equivalent of winning the event average at a two-day regular-season event (not including round wins and ride score bonuses). Therefore, you could look at the World Finals containing the same world points value as nearly eight regular-season events combined.

 

World Points for Round Placement at the 2022 World Finals

1. 80
2. 40
3. 36
4. 32
5. 28
6. 24
7. 20
8. 16
9. 12
10. 8
11. 5
12. 4
13. 3
14. 2
15. 1

Riders will also earn points for their ride scores. Rides from 70-79.75 points will earn seven points, 80-89.75 will earn eight points, and rides 90-99.75 will earn nine bonus points.

Swearingen has drawn Cool Whip (5-1, UTB) for Round 1 on Friday night at Dickies Arena, while No. 2 Joao Ricardo Vieira takes on Flapjack (1-0, UTB).

DRAW VS. DRAFT

One thing that always plays a role in the PBR World Finals is which rounds of the competition are random draws and which are draft rounds.

For Round 1, Round 3, Round 4 and Round 6, the rider/bull matchups will be randomly drawn. Round 2, Round 5 and Round 7 will be done by draft. The previous round will determine the draft order from highest score to buckoff time.

The 12-man championship round bulls will be pre-set, and the order will be 12th to 1st based on aggregate score.

Friday night will be an extremely important tone-setter for the Finals. The top finishers in the round earn the highest chance to select a bull that fits their style, which could set them up with a 2-for-2 start to the grinding Finals.

WORLD CHAMPION BULL RACE / BULL OF THE FINALS / RANK PEN

The YETI World Champion Bull race and its $100,000 overall bonus will come down to three outs at the PBR World Finals inside Dickies Arena.

Woopaa and Ridin Solo are tied with a World Champion Bull average (Top 6 outs) of 46.29 points from the regular season.

The 2022 YETI World Champion Bull will be the animal with the highest average bull score from their top-six regular-season outs and two outs at the PBR World Finals.

Woopaa will be looking to become the sixth bull in PBR history to win back-to-back world titles, while Ridin Solo will be attempting to win his first.

The top bucking bulls competing at the Finals will receive three outs, and World Champion contenders will be able to drop their lowest score in Fort Worth. The 2022 YETI Bull of the Finals will be the top bull based on all three scores and receive a $25,000 bonus.

 

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR RACE

Bob Mitchell and Clayton Sellars enter the World Finals as the only two rookies in contention for the Rookie of the Year title, but that could change if Velocity Tour wild card invites Brandon Davis, Casey Coulter or Josh Frost crack the Top 30 of the world standings over the course of the eight rounds of competition.

For now, Mitchell and Sellars are the two frontrunners, with Mitchell holding a slim 38.92-point lead on Sellars ahead of Round 1.

Mitchell makes his World Finals debut against Gangster Rock (2-0, UTB), while Sellars has a Round 1 matchup vs. Big Heart (1-2, UTB).

ROUND 1 REMATCHES ON FRIDAY NIGHT

Eduardo Aparecido vs. Wilson (7.94 seconds in Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Joao Henrique Lucas vs. Kingdom (3.16 seconds in Little Rock, Arkansas)
Rafael Henrique dos Santos vs. WSM’s Nasty Wishes (85.5 points last year at UTB regular-season event in Las Vegas)

TELEVISION TIMES

CBS Sports Network (CBSSN) will broadcast every long round of the PBR World Finals, while Sunday’s championship round will be LIVE on CBS Television Network. The coverage schedule is:

• Friday, May 13 @ 8 p.m. EDT on CBSSN (Round 1)
• Saturday, May 14 @ 8 p.m. EDT on CBSSN (Round 2)
• Sunday, May 15 @ 3 p.m. EDT on CBSSN (Round 3)
• Thursday, May 19 @ 10 p.m. EDT on CBSSN (Round 4)
• Friday, May 20 @ 10 p.m. EDT on CBSSN (Round 5)
• Saturday, May 21 @ 9 p.m. EDT on CBSSN (Round 6)
• Sunday, May 22 @ 10 a.m. EDT on CBSSN (Round 7)
• Sunday, May 22 @ noon EDT on CBS Television Network (Championship Round)

RidePass on Pluto TV will offer replays of the World Finals within 72 hours of each round of competition from Fort Worth, Texas, as well as additional content offerings throughout the next two weeks.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andre Silva/Bull Stock Media

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