HISTORY
The year was 1988, the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma envisioned a concept for an event that would forever change the sport of professional bull riding. The idea was simple. Bring together the greatest bull riders in rodeo; match them against a handpicked pen of bulls; offer an unprecedented purse of $40,000; and make it a tribute to one of the greatest bull riders in history, Freckles Brown. The idea became reality when the Lazy E Arena contacted the late World Champion Lane Frost. Frost was to serve as the contestant director and was responsible for ensuring the top 30 bull riders in the world would compete. The second part of the event was to handpick the bulls. For this, Bennie Beutler was called upon to hire 14 different contractors and obtain the rankest pen of bulls ever assembled. The third part of the equation (guaranteed to make the event a success) was to obtain the purse. For this, the Lazy E solicited national corporate sponsors to participate, and each cowboy was required to put up an unprecedented $1,000 entry fee. The stage was set, and in 1989, the concept became reality. Bullnanza was well on its way into the history books as one of the greatest events in pro rodeo.
In that same year, the man who helped coordinate the contestants died in a well-documented accident while competing in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In 1990, Frost’s name was added to the event. Taking over the reins for the late Frost as contestant director was a bull rider who would go on to become the world’s most famous and arguably, the greatest of all time, Tuff Hedeman. Also in 1990, a new twist added to the success of Bullnanza when The Nashville Network (TNN) agreed to film and broadcast the event across the country. Over the years, millions of fans have seen Bullnanza aired on The Nashville Network, the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), ESPN, ESPN2, and Versus Network.
With the sell-out success of Bullnanza-Guthrie, in 1993 Lazy E Productions and the newly formed Professional Bull Riders (PBR) decided to expand its richest and most popular event among bull riders and fans to other venues. Over the course of time, the Bullnanza format is now what is known as the PBR’s Premier Tour: The Built Ford Tough Series aired on Versus television. Bullnanza has played to audiences in great cities such as Guthrie, OK; Nashville, TN; Reno, NV; Oklahoma City, OK; Birmingham, AL; Salt Lake City, UT; Wichita, KS and Lexington, KY. In 2005, the Lazy E also produced the PRCA Xtreme Bulls National Finals in Reno, NV. In addition to producing Bullnanza events, Lazy E Productions also co-produces events on the PBR’s Built Ford Tough Series in Oklahoma City, OK, Nashville, TN, and Tulsa, OK. Currently, Lazy E will produce seven world class PBR events in 2008.
The history of the Lazy E and Bullnanza has experienced great champions, marquee match-ups, and some of the best moments in bull riding history. The Bullnanza experience is like no other!
Professional Bull Riders Inc.
The Professional Bull Riders, Inc., was founded in 1992 by 20 accomplished bull riders who joined together and took a business risk to try and make bull riding – the most popular event in traditional rodeo – into a stand-alone sport. Each rider chipped in $1,000 to help launch his dream of someday seeing bull riders recognized as mainstream professional athletes. As of April 23, 2007, Spire Capital Partners, L.P., a private equity firm based out of New York, became partner and majority investor in the PBR. Randy Bernard, Ty Murray, Tom Teague and all the Directors of the PBR will continue as shareholders. Fifteen of the shareholders are among the elite 45 riders currently on the BFTS tour, which will help preserve the tradition originally started by the cowboys in 1992.
The PBR is headquartered in Pueblo, Colo., and has over 1,200 bull riders competing in more than 300 PBR sanctioned competitions in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. PBR currently operates four domestic tours, including the Built Ford Tough Series presented by Wrangler, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company Challenger Tour, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Tour and Discovery Tour, and has a rapidly growing presence in international markets, including Brazil, Mexico, Australia and Canada. PBR competitions can be viewed regularly on its cable channel partner, VERSUS, every Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 p.m. ET. In addition, the PBR will have eight events televised on the FOX and NBC networks in 2008.
