PBR World Finals moving to Arlington’s AT&T Stadium. What does that mean for Fort Worth?
The championship round of the PBR World Finals is moving to Arlington’s AT&T Stadium beginning in May 2024, according to Sean Gleason, PBR CEO and commissioner.
Fort Worth has hosted the PBR World Finals at Dickies Arena the last two years. The 2023 championship wraps up this weekend.
AT&T Stadium will host the later rounds and championship of the bull riding finals next year.
“We are looking forward to building a lot of new memories right here at AT&T Stadium,” Gleason said. “We bring the world’s toughest sport to the home of the Dallas Cowboys, hopefully in the same year that they win the Super Bowl.”
Fort Worth will still keep a piece of the PBR World Finals and host rounds one through four on May 10-13 at Dickies Arena. Round five, six and the championship will then move to AT&T Stadium.
Hosting the PBR World Finals is nothing new for AT&T Stadium. The venue hosted the 2020 championship after spending the previous 26 years in Las Vegas.
With nowhere to go due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PBR officials reached out to AT&T Stadium on just six weeks’ notice. And six weeks later, a new PBR world champion was crowned in Arlington, Gleason said.
After going back to Las Vegas in 2021, the PBR team decided to go back to Texas, and Fort Worth hosted the 2022 and 2023 contests, Gleason said.
While announcing the Arlington move, Gleason made sure to thank Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and the city’s sports commission for their work on bringing the PBR to Cowtown.
“Fort Worth will still hold the crucial early rounds that are make it or break it for our bull riders,” Gleason said. “We’ll continue to buck bulls in Dickies Arena and we’ll do a lot of other stuff in and around Fort Worth in the Stockyards.”
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross celebrated the PBR’s move to his city and said the joint hosting event is good for Tarrant County.
“We love our neighbors to the west of us in Fort Worth,” Ross said. “We appreciate everything about what they do because the better Fort Worth does, the better Arlington does, [the] better Arlington does, [the] better Fort Worth does.”
This year’s edition will see a bit of star power when “Yellowstone” actor Cole Hauser brings his cowboy charm to town for a Professional Bull Riders commercial shoot.
Tickets for the 2024 PBR World Finals are now on sale.
This story was originally published May 17, 2023 at 12:19 PM.
