PBR World Finals Moves to Fort Worth Starting in 2022
Las Vegas will host final Premier Series Championship this year
Posted On: August 31, 2021 By :The Professional Bull Riders will move its World Finals starting next year from Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena to the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, as part of a restructuring of the tour’s schedule. A new Unleash the Beast regular season will run from January through May in 2022 with a seven-day championship festival being held in the Texas destination.
“This is a historic win for Fort Worth. Powered by Dickies Arena and a community committed to hospitality, we are excited to announce this latest, significant sports event for our city,” said Jason Sands, director of the Fort Worth Sports Commission, a division of Visit Fort Worth. “Welcoming the PBR World Finals beginning in 2022 shows how Fort Worth is attracting the most exciting and important events in professional sports.”
The 2022 PBR season will span January through May, with subsequent seasons starting in 2023 lasting from November through May. The 2022 campaign will include a minimum of 20 Unleash The Beast events, stopping in venues in cities such as Madison Square Garden in New York, Staples Center in Los Angeles, Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City and MetraPark in Billings, Montana.
“These landmark changes give the PBR season greater continuity and allow the league to hold our crown jewel, the World Finals, in the heart of cowboy country surrounded by exciting fan entertainment activities,” said Sean Gleason, PBR chief executive officer and commissioner. “We are ecstatic to work with our incredible partners in Fort Worth, as we usher in a new era adding to the rich history of our World Finals and continue to bring new programming to Fort Worth. We look forward to the many opportunities to grow the PBR World Finals and sport as a whole here in Texas.”
The inaugural PBR World Finals in Fort Worth will be held from May 13–22, 2022 at Dickies Arena, an ASM Global venue. The first three rounds of the 2022 PBR World Finals will be held May 13–15, with the final five rounds held from May 19–22. In addition to Dickies Arena, the league will also bring World Finals-related events and programming to Cowtown Coliseum, Fort Worth Convention Center and the Will Rogers Complex in Fort Worth.
“Dickies Arena is proud to welcome the World Finals to Texas and celebrate 30 years of PBR in our new state-of-the-art facility. We are excited to host PBR in another national capacity and look forward to showcasing the city of Fort Worth to PBR fans from across North America,” said Matt Homan, president and general manager of Dickies Arena.
The schedule changes follow PBR’s announcement in June of a joint venture with Stockyards Heritage Development Co. and ASM Global to bring dozens of annual new western sports, music and entertainment events to Cowtown Coliseum and the historic Stockyards District.
“This has been an incredible team effort with PBR, Governor Abbott, our Fort Worth Sports Commission and so many others,” Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said. “Fort Worth is the gold standard for public-private partnerships and we are marshaling all our resources to roll out the red carpet for the PBR World Finals.”
PBR has held its annual championship in Las Vegas since the sport was founded, with the exception of 2020 when the fnals were held in Arlington, Texas, due to the pandemic.
“We would like to thank the City of Las Vegas for being such an incredible host to the PBR World Finals for nearly three decades,” said Gleason. “While we are excited about the move to Texas, Las Vegas will continue to hold marquee PBR events, which will be announced in the coming months.”
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