PBR (Professional Bull Riders) today announced that the Carolina Chaos will represent Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the PBR Team Series, an elite new league featuring the world’s top bull riders competing in games beginning in June 2022.
North Carolina’s first bull riding team will call Wake Forest’s Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum home, joining the Demon Deacons men’s and women’s basketball teams in the 14,600 capacity multi-purpose arena in Winston-Salem.
The team will be run by Richard Childress Racing with 2018 Daytona 500 Champion Austin Dillon serving as General Manager. Dillon, who drives the iconic No. 3 Chevrolet, embarks on his ninth year of competition in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022. A former champion in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (2013)and NASCAR Truck Series (2011), Dillon is a 19-time winner in NASCAR’s top-three touring series.
”I’ve always had an interest in the business side of sports, so I’m thrilled to get a chance at being the general manager of a PBR team alongside my grandfather,” said Dillon. “I grew up watching bull riders with my grandfather, so it’s special to be able to share this interest with him in our home state of North Carolina.”
The PBR Team Series’ inaugural 10-event regular season will culminate in a team playoff at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas November 4-6, 2022. The league will launch with eight founding teams, each scheduled to host in their respective city an annual bull riding event and western lifestyle festival, building excitement and rooting interests in the sport.
The PBR Team Series event for the Carolina Chaos at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in North Carolina will be announced at a later date. Fans can connect with the Carolina Chaos on social media at @Carolina Chaos on Facebook, @CarolinaChaos_ on Twitter, @CarolinaChaos_ on Instagram, and @CarolinaChaos_ on TikTok.
The full PBR Team Series league roster is:
- Ariat Texas Rattlers, based in Fort Worth, Tex., owned by the Fisher family
- Arizona Ridge Riders, based in Glendale, Ariz., owned by Teton Ridge
- Austin Gamblers, based in Austin, Tex., owned by Egon Durban
- Carolina Chaos, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., owned by the league and operated by Richard Childress Racing
- Kansas City Outlaws, based in Kansas City, Mo., owned by Pulley Outlaws LLC
- Missouri Thunder, based in Ridgedale, Mo., owned by Johnny Morris
- Nashville Stampede, based in Nashville, Tenn., owned by Morris Communications Company
- Oklahoma Freedom, based in Oklahoma City, Okla., owned by the league and operated by Prodigal
There will also be two “neutral site” league-produced regular season events and the season playoff and championship. All PBR Team Series events will be carried on either the CBS Television Network, streaming live on Paramount+, CBS Sports Network or Pluto TV.
The league will host a PBR Team Series rider draft on May 23 prior to start of the 2022 season, among PBR rider members who have declared for the draft during a league eligibility window. To determine team selection order of the athletes, a draft lottery among teams will be held prior to the PBR Unleash The Beast event at Madison Square Garden in New York on Friday, January 7.
The PBR Team Series complements the successful PBR Unleash The Beast premier tour, which held its first championship in 1994 and in 2022 will be staged January – May, with its World Finals held in Fort Worth, Texas from May 13-22, 2022.
The PBR has a rich history in the state of North Carolina. In addition to having made more than 30 stops in the Tar Heel State with the elite Unleash The Beast, several of the world’s best bull riders hail from North Carolina including two-time PBR World Champion J.B. Mauney, 2021 PBR Rookie of the Year Eli Vastbinder, and PBR Ring of Honor inductee Jerome Davis, who operates Davis Rodeo Ranch in Archdale, hosting events and raising PBR bucking bulls with his wife Tiffany.
The PBR debuted in Winston-Salem in 2008, visiting the city annually through 2010 with the premier Unleash The Beast. The organization held a subsequent elite tour event in the Twin City in 2013.
In 2009, North Carolinian Mauney captured the event win, going a perfect 3-for-3, including riding Deja Blue Emu for 91 points to clinch the victory.
“Over the past 29 years, PBR has grown to become a mainstream sport carried by CBS and Pluto TV and packing marquee arenas across the country,” said PBR CEO and Commissioner Sean Gleason. “The incredible lineup of passionate, highly successful team owners validates the new PBR Team Series league – a transformational addition to the sport that will help take PBR to new levels.”
The PBR Team Series builds on the existing structure of professional bull riding with the same basic rules for judging and scoring qualified 8-second bull rides. Events will be structured in a tournament-style format with all teams competing in head-to-head matchups against a different opponent each day. Each game will feature five riders per team squaring off against another team. Full team rosters will be comprised of seven riders on the core roster and up to three practice squad members. The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides among its riders will be declared the winner of each game. The event winner will be the team with the most game wins across an event, with a special bonus round designed as a tie-breaker to determine final event standings.
Team formatted bull-riding events have been growing in popularity since the debut of the PBR Global Cup in 2017, which pitted nation against nation in the name of national pride. The successful event format continued in June and July 2021 with the PBR Monster Energy Team Challenge, presented by U.S. Border Patrol. In addition, PBR has staged multiple Air Force Reserve Cowboys for a Cause team charity events.
About PBR (Professional Bull Riders):PBR is the world’s premier bull riding organization. More than 500 bull riders compete in more than 200 events annually across the televised PBR Unleash The Beast tour (UTB), which features the top 35 bull riders in the world; the PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour (PWVT); the PBR Touring Pro Division (TPD); and the PBR’s international circuits in Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico. In June 2022, PBR will launch PBR Team Series – eight teams of the world’s best bull riders competing for a new championship. The organization’s digital assets include PBR RidePass on Pluto TV, which is home to Western sports. PBR is a subsidiary of IMG, a global leader in sports, fashion, events and media. For more information, visit PBR.com, or follow on Facebook at Facebook.com/PBR, Twitter at Twitter.com/PBR, and YouTube at YouTube.com/PBR.
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