Grab your hat and pull on your boots. The Wild West is headed to NYC.
America’s top professional bull riders compete this weekend at Madison Square Garden, straddling bucking, snorting beasts that can weigh as much as a ton while crowds of cheering fans spur them on.
Driven by the soaring popularity of all things Western, from Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” album to television’s hit “Yellowstone” series, New Yorkers can indulge in their cowboy dreams at the PBR “Unleash the Beast” events Friday to Sunday.
“You always dream of riding in a big place like the Garden,” said John Crimber, who rides for the Florida Freedom and, at just 19 years old, is ranked as the Professional Bull Riders top rider. “A lot of people don’t really know what bull riding is around here, so it’s kinda cool just to show them a little bit of our sport.”
At the Garden this weekend, the New York Mavericks will square off against the Florida Freedom team on opening night Friday. The rest of the competition features 40 riders in rounds of individual events.
“It’s crazy how big the crowd is there,” bull rider Austin Richardson, 24, of Wilmer, Texas, who won the 2024 competition at the Garden, told the Daily News. “The energy there is insane.”
In the ring, a rider must stay mounted on the bull, using one hand to hold the rope, for eight seconds to qualify, with their free hand raised in the air. Judges deliver the scores — a possible 50 points for the bull and 50 for the rider.
Bulls are scored on the intensity and height of their kicking, while riders are judged on their skill and control.
“The New York crowd is awesome. They are literally the best fans we have all year long,” said Kody Lostroh, 39, who coaches the New York Mavericks, one of the bull-riding teams that competes in the PBR league. “Being that it’s typically a Western sport, they’re drawn to that kind of mythical cowboy coming to visit New York and doing something very cool like riding bulls,” he said.
The Freedom’s Crimber competed on his first bull when he was 6 years old. His father Paulo Crimber was a world-class rider who now coaches the Florida Freedom team. The younger Crimber recently hit the $1 million mark in earnings in his PBR career, the youngest rider in the league’s history to reach that milestone.
“It’s an adrenaline rush riding in big venues,” said Crimber, who lives in Decatur, Texas. “You feel 10 feet tall and bulletproof going in, and people are cheering for you.”
Founded in 1992, the PBR broke away from the traditional rodeo format to make professional bull riding a stand-alone sport. The total purse for the PBR events at the Garden is $143,550.
Winners go on to the World Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, in May, which features a $1 million bonus.
Native New Yorker Peter Strahm, 62, considers himself a superfan after seeing the bull riding at the Garden last year. This year, the food and beverage consultant is organizing some 15 to 20 friends, family members and colleagues to enjoy the thrills as well.
He described the spectacle as a mix of NASCAR, pro football and horse racing, combining danger, contact and athleticism.
“By the time you get to the fifth or sixth bull, the whole place is erupting,” he said. “It pumps you up. It makes you feel good to be an American.”
Prepping the Garden for the bull-riding barrage is no small feat.
Once the New York Rangers end their Thursday night hockey game, crews cover the ice with protective plywood and plastic. Then dozens of dump trucks haul in 750 tons of dirt to lay a 6-inch-deep floor, and workers install bucking chutes, gates and pens.
The bulls are trucked in from their lodging at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in western New Jersey. The PBR emphasizes that the animals, which are bred to buck, are not subject to shocks or restrictive bindings and that bull riding spurs are quite dull.
When they’re not competing, the bulls, sometimes called roughstock, actually can be nice, said Richardson, who has known his share during his dozen-year career.
“You can pet most of them,” he said. “Most of them know their jobs and what they’re there for, and they’re bred to do this.”
Some bulls, with names like Man Hater and Legend, draw their own fans and can become as famous as their riders.
So far, ticket sales for the Garden are 16% ahead of last year’s events, when nearly 39,000 people attended, organizers said.
After New York, the “Unleash the Beast” tour moves to venues in cities including Chicago, Houston, Pittsburgh and Sacramento.
“I would encourage people just to come check it out,” said the Mavericks’ coach Lostroh. “Come once, and you’ll be hooked for the rest of your life.”
