Bull riders hope to cash in on TV deal

Friday, Oct. 25, 2002 | 9:35 a.m.

Forget the 18-wheelers that transport the bulls to and from the cities and arenas that comprise the Pro Bull Riders tour, or all those shiny pickup trucks in the parking lot.

If there's one vehicle that best illustrates that PBR may be on the verge of crashing mainstream sports it's that huge TV production truck that sits alongside the Thomas & Mack Center at this week's Bud Light Cup World Finals.

The PBR, the self-proclaimed "toughest sport on dirt," recently signed on for an unprecedented multi-network television package that includes NBC, CBS, TNN, OLN (Outdoor Life Network) and Spanish network Telemundo.

In other words, just about every time you flip the dial you're likely to find a lot of bull -- and the sport's movers and shakers couldn't be happier.

"Our sport translates well to TV," said Randy Bernard, CEO of PBR. "There's action, excitement, danger. There's solid action packed into an hour and a half or two hours and that's what people want -- action."

Nobody will argue that. There's also no debating the networks are doing their part to make PBR succeed.

CBS, for instance, aired its first Bud Light Cup show on Oct. 20 immediately following its NFL game, during which announcers reminded football fans to stay tuned for bull riding. Many apparently did.

The PBR show drew a 1.8 Nielsen rating -- considered solid for a niche-type sport -- despite being shown before football in 35 percent of the nation's TV markets.

NBC will follow CBS' lead, as its first PBR telecast will air following the Nov. 17 NASCAR race at Homestead, Fla. Together, CBS and NBC will carry seven PBR shows through April, with many cherry-picking huge viewer magnets such as the NFL and NASCAR.

Viewership of PBR events has grown from 12 million during its cable TV debut year of 1994 to roughly 90 million in '01.

It should be noted the tour has nearly quadrupled in size since inception -- from eight events in 1994 to 29 next year -- and so logic dictates the number of viewers would increase incrementally.

But dozens of new venues are another sign that bull riding is edging closer to the sports mainstream.

It used to be that rodeo and its offshoots were confined to cow towns on Western prairies. Not anymore. During 2003, PBR will make stops in non-rodeo locales such as New Orleans, Minneapolis, Tampa, Atlanta, Anaheim, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Columbus, Ohio, and Worcester, Mass.

Bernard said the PBR's new strategy is to frequent as many big markets as possible.

"People said we would never draw in Boston but Worcester (Mass.) is one of our best stops," said Bernard, adding that TV exposure combined with sponsor revenue has enabled the PBR to broaden its fan base and attract spectators from all walks of life.

"You go to the NFR (National Finals Rodeo) and 80 percent of the crowd is wearing cowboy hats," he said. "At one of our events, it's probably only 20 percent."

"I'm just glad I came out on top but it's just one round, one bull," said Hart, who has suffered two broken ankles during 2002.