Oklahoma Freedom is state's first professional bull riding team, 'going to revolutionize the sport'

Ed Godfrey, Oklahoman
·4 min read
8

Oklahoma has a new professional sports team.

The Oklahoma Freedom bull riding team was introduced Wednesday at a press conference at Paycom Center, a squad that will be competing in a new team concept series of the PBR.

The PBR is now dividing its year with regular season tour stops and a team series, which begins this weekend with a pre-season event in North Dakota.

Oklahoma Freedom, coached by former bull rider and now stock contractor Cord McCoy, is one of eight teams that will compete in 10 games this year, culminating with the world championships in Las Vegas in November. Kody Lostroh, the 2009 PBR world champion, is an assistant coach for Oklahoma Freedom.

Other teams in the league are the Austin Gamblers, Arizona Ridge Riders, Carolina Cowboys, Kansas City Outlaws, Nashville Stampede, Missouri Thunder and the Texas Rattlers.

Each team's roster was filled during a draft earlier this year from a pool of 267 cowboys on the PBR Tour. The teams will have five riders compete in head-to-head games against another team each night of an event.

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Briggs Madsen, left, of the Oklahoma Freedom bull-riding team sits at a press conference at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
Briggs Madsen, left, of the Oklahoma Freedom bull-riding team sits at a press conference at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

Paycom Center is considered the home for Oklahoma Freedom. On Sept. 16-18, Oklahoma Freedom will host a PBR Team Series event. That September event will replace the regular season PBR Tour stop normally held in Oklahoma City each February.

Tulsa, which was a regular PBR Tour stop in the summer, now switches places with Oklahoma City on the calendar for a regular season event.

"I honestly believe this is going to revolutionize the sport," said Brandon Bates, the general manager of Oklahoma Freedom, of the team format.

For 13 years, Bates has been executive director of Prodigal Management in Oklahoma City which has served as an agent for bull riders and rodeo athletes for years.

Oklahoma Freedom will be operated Prodigal Management, although the PBR owns the team along with the Carolina Cowboys, Bates said. However, the other six bull riding teams are independently-owned franchises, he said.

The bull riders are under contract with each team but will compete for prize money at each event, Bates said. In the future, the bull riders can become free agents, he said.

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The Oklahoma Freedom, Oklahoma's first-ever Professional Bull Riding Team, pose for a picture after the press conference at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. on Wednesday, June, 15, 2022.
The Oklahoma Freedom, Oklahoma's first-ever Professional Bull Riding Team, pose for a picture after the press conference at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. on Wednesday, June, 15, 2022.

During the inaugural PBR Team Series Draft, the Oklahoma Freedom filled is first five roster positions with 2021 PBR Rookie of the Year Eli Vastbinder (Statesville, North Carolina), Derek Kolbaba (Walla Walla, Washington), Chase Outlaw (Hamburg, Arkansas), Briggs Madsen (Tremonton, Utah) and Caden Bunch (Tahlequah, Oklahoma).

In the supplemental draft, the team welcomed two-time PBR World Champion Jess Lockwood (Volborg, Montana), while also adding Shawn Bennett Jr. (Soper, Oklahoma), Deklan Garland (Foster, Oklahoma), Trevor Kastner (Ardmore, Oklahoma), Kyle McDaniel (Fort Worth, Texas) and Casey Roberts (Munford, Alabama) via free agency.

Five members of the squad will compete each night.

"As a coach, I match up which rider is getting on which bull for that night," McCoy said. "At the end of the weekend, it's which team outrides the other.

"Bull riding for 100 years has been crawl on, keep your hand up, and stay on for eight seconds. Now we have a general manager, assistant coaches, training fields. Now they're riding for someone else. You are riding for the whole team."

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Bates said the PBR Team Series has been in the works for years. It's good for the bull riders, as most cowboys will earn more money through the team series than in individual bull riding events, he said.

But for decades, bull riding has been an individual sport. Will fans get behind a bull riding team like they do for a football or basketball team?

"I think so," McCoy said. "There are a lot of different reasons to love Oklahoma Freedom. If you are an Eli Vastbinder fan, I like to think you are cheering for Oklahoma Freedom now no matter what state are you from. If you are an Outlaw fan, you join with us."

Bates admits it will be a challenge to get fans as excited about Oklahoma Freedom as they are for the Oklahoma City Thunder or the state's collegiate sports teams. However, the PBR already has rabid core base of fans in Oklahoma, he said.

"Will it become the Dallas Cowboys in the state? Probably not," Bates said. "But will it have a significant number of Western sports fans who love this lifestyle and love watching cowboys at the highest level? Absolutely."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Freedom will help revolutionize the sport of bull riding