BULL riding is coming to New York City, and it’s more popular than you might expect.
Last year, NYC received a Professional Bull Riders expansion team in the form of the New York Mavericks.
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While bull riding might be a foreign concept to many New Yorkers, Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center were packed last season to watch cowboys go to work.
This year, Professional Bull Riders is expecting nothing less, and team general manager Chris Pantani has a simple answer for the turnout:
“Everybody wants to be a cowboy.”
The introduction of the team format in PBR has given the uninformed fan a way to digest bull riding like any other professional sport.
“So it’s the same as any main type sport you look at,” Pantani said.
“It’s just a Western version of that sport. The competition is five on five.
“Think of it as a hockey overtime or a soccer shootout. Away team goes, home team goes. It’s five players compete for an aggregate score.
“So you have games, you have practices, you have standings, you have world champions, everything is just like a regular or mainstream type sport.
“So fans can follow. So you don’t need an endemic fan to really follow the sport.
“You can relax, enjoy with your family, look up and you can see a score. And it’s two separate dugouts.
“The teams are separated on the arena so you can actually follow and see what’s going to happen at the same time.”
PBR hosts an annual event at Madison Square Garden, but the team event at Barclays was the first time the sport made it to Long Island.
That will continue this year at UBS Arena, where the Mavericks will host the team series from September 18-20.
Fans are expected to turn out in droves for this event, embracing cowboy culture hundreds of miles away from the south.
Pantani labels this as the “Yellowstone effect,” referencing the popular Paramount+ TV series.
People around the country are interested in southern culture, and it has shown in attendance and interest in PBR in recent years.
According to PBR, ticket sales increased by 23 percent between 2022 and 2023.
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PBR’s Instagram and TikTok accounts boast three million followers each.
The series also has sponsorships with massive brands like Wrangler, Busch Lite, Michelob Ultra, Progressive, Monster Energy, and more.
Bull riding is on the rise, and New Yorkers who haven’t seen bucking bulls in-person should take the trip to Long Island to experience Maverick Days in September.
Entering the 2025 season, which starts in July, the New York Mavericks will play 35 games, including the team’s annual homestand—Maverick Days—at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, NY, from Sept. 18-20, 2025.
Action begins at 7:45 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 18, and Friday, September 19, and at 5:45 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 20.
Tickets for the event start at $25, taxes and fees not included. Tickets can be purchased online at Ticketmaster and PBR.com, or by phone at (917) 618-6100.
For more information about the New York Mavericks, visit pbr.com/teams/new-york-mavericks, follow the New York Mavericks on Facebook, Instagram, and X @NY_Mavericks.
