Bucking the COVID-19 trend
Professional Bull Riders able to resume competition quickly with stringent protocols
Bull riders know quite a bit about danger. Managing risk and harnessing fear are occupational requirements.
In one of the world’s most hazardous professions, it’s all about finding a way to get it done. No matter what.
Perhaps that is why the Professional Bull Riders organization has persevered through a pandemic that has put most of the sports world on pause.
The PBR went on hiatus March 15 at the conclusion of an Unleash The Beast event in Duluth, Ga., that was closed to the public. A COVID-19 protocol was then developed and implemented during three weekends of made-for-TV events at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Okla., that began April 25. CEO Sean Gleason said his team worked tirelessly on that plan, which has since been shared with over a dozen other sports leagues.
“The PBR team rose to the occasion, took a lot of common sense, thought through a lot of issues and have been able to get back to work and keep our riders earning some money,” Gleason said.
“The whole industry is dependent on PBR events, so to not have them would have been devastating to a lot of people.”
COVID-19 testing, RVs and the concept of “functional groups” have been the keys to the PBR’s stringent protocol.
RVs essentially became quarantine pods; each person stayed in one on the grounds of the Lazy E. Everyone was also tested for coronavirus and had to isolate in an RV for 24 hours while awaiting results. The PBR reported all tests were negative during the three events in Oklahoma.
Separation was created by functional groups. Each person was assigned to a group of less than 10 people, usually six or seven, and interaction was permitted only for members of the same group. Each group wore different-colored wristbands and ate at separate locations.
Individuals were screened before entering the arena. Every person on site had to practice social distancing and wear masks.
Gleason said it was a challenge to sync up all the moving parts and to meet constantly evolving guidelines at all levels of government. The riders helped make it easier, though. All bought in to make it work.
“Every guy was more than willing to go through those protocols, just to have the opportunity to do what we love to do,” said Cody Teel, PBR rider and College Station resident.
Teel said adjusting to the new procedures was easy, but the biggest challenge for riders in the current setup is the lack of fans. Feeding off the fans’ energy is vital to achieving the intensity needed to ride the rankest bulls in the world, Teel said. He and other riders have had to create that energy themselves. Gleason said the music has been cranked to try and help, too.
Teel seemed to find his groove during the last two events in Guthrie, earning second and fourth place finishes while picking up some all-important points in the world standings (ranked No. 21). He said if there has been any extra motivation, it is simply gratefulness to have an opportunity to work. Unlike other athletes, bull riders get paid only when they make the whistle. He’s thankful he and other riders can earn income again.
Meanwhile, the 27-yearold is overcoming some unfamiliar adversity of his own while dealing with a lingering injury. Teel still has a torn ACL in his right knee that he sustained during the World Finals last year.
Teel is no stranger to injuries. He’s had a broken jaw, clavicle, leg, ankle and cracked teeth. At RodeoHouston in 2013, he was knocked unconscious, his elbow dislocated and shattered. While at Sam Houston State, Teel was struck in the stomach by the head of the bull he was on and a section of his small intestine was ruptured. He spent several weeks in a hospital bed but would return to win the 2011 College National Finals Rodeo the following year.
So, Teel has plenty of experience with overcoming the physical toll of bull riding.
This injury, though, has been a different struggle. A mental one.
Teel elected to not have surgery and has instead took the rehab path. When he came back from other injuries, he was confident that everything was fixed. This one remained in the back of his mind, even when it didn’t physically hurt.
“It made me hesitant, a little timid in my riding style. And as anyone knows, it doesn’t really work well when you’re ‘one foot on the brake, one foot on the throttle’ trying to ride bulls,” said Teel, who was a two-time Texas high school state champ at Kountze.
Now that he’s overcome that mental hurdle, he’s finding his timing and rhythm. He’s done exceptionally well aboard Milk Man, a bull he said fits his style. He’s rode him four out of five times this year, including twice at Lazy E Arena. His trip May 17 yielded the eighth 90-point ride of his career.
“I’m definitely happy with the momentum I was starting to get going up there in Guthrie,” Teel said.
His next chance to keep things rolling will come at a new series the PBR is launching.
The Monster Energy Team Challenge will divide the riders into 12 teams that will compete against each other over four weekends at South Point Arena in Las Vegas. The PBR has been exploring team-oriented events for a while, most notably with its popular Global Cup Series that started in 2017. The league aims to expand on that format and take advantage of the lack of other sports with this innovative event.
“We decided that if you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly,” Gleason said.
The Las Vegas portion of the event will be held under the same protocols as used in Guthrie, but it will end with a championship round in Sioux Falls, S.D., on July 10-12. The PBR hopes to bring back its fans, albeit in a limited fashion, for the title round.
The PBR intends to allow 35 percent capacity to attend the Sioux Falls event. The fans will be separated in the stands and given complimentary facemasks upon entry. A coordinated exit of the arena and limits on people in bathrooms will be in place, ticketing will be mobile and cashless transactions are urged.
“We anticipate that it’s going to culminate into an event that we can hold in front of a significant number of our fans in a safe and responsible environment,” Gleason said.
The rest of the Unleash The Beast events are still being worked out, but Gleason hopes the Monster Energy Team Challenge will result in something “approximating normal” for the audience.
The ability to initiate a groundbreaking event was made possible by the protocol the PBR developed and the willingness of the riders to adhere to it.
“Overall I was very proud of them for understanding that it wasn’t really about them, it was about everybody else that was there working as well as the families at home and the people in the communities they work and live in that they needed to protect by being careful,” Gleason said.