On Aug. 31, the Professional Bull Riders organization announced that its most prestigious event, the PBR World Finals, will move to Dickies Arena in Fort Worth starting in 2022. That’s the right decision and hopefully a precursor to another announcement.
Last year, after both the PBR and National Finals Rodeo moved to Arlington from Las Vegas due to COVID-19, we argued that there’s an undeniable connection between rodeo events and Texas. It’s a pairing that just seems right.
PBR officials seem to agree. PBR co-founder and Vice President Cody Lambert called Fort Worth “the center of the universe of western sports.”
“Fort Worth since the early 1900s has been a central place for cowboys and in the past couple of years they have been doing even more. This is huge for Fort Worth, as well as for PBR,” Lambert said. “Texas is all about rodeo and bull riding, and it always has been. They proved that in a big way last year with the PBR Finals and the NFR being able to continue and go on because Texas was willing and able.”
PBR World Finals is different from the National Finals Rodeo, which has also made overtures about moving permanently to Fort Worth. An NFR spokesperson declined to comment last week, but Steve Rempelos, chief marketing officer for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, told us after this summer’s successful event, “We made some great friends in North Texas and we’re looking forward to keeping those friendships.”
From where we sit, PBR and NFR are both high-powered rodeo events that make more sense in Texas than in anywhere else. We hope last month’s announcement is a sign of more things to come.
The Dallas Morning News
