The PBR Global Cup is a bull riding team competition that was developed in 2017 by the Professional Bull Riders organization, which intends to give the winning country the ability to say they have the best bull riders. Previously, there was a similar team event called the PBR World Cup that the PBR ran from 2007 to 2010, but this new event is not a continuation of the previous one. The PBR Global Cup consists of teams from five countries. It includes these countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States. A different country holds the team event each year as this is an annual event. The host country does retain a competitive advantage. The best riders in each team are matched against the best riders from other teams. The contest is a series that continues until one country holds all five pieces of the Global Cup, which includes the horn and the native soil of each nation. Only one country will claim the "Toughest Nation on Dirt."
Competition
Competition description
The PBR Global Cup is an annual event. The hosting country each year is granted an advantage. For the events in Edmonton and Sydney, that advantage was twice the number of competitors as the visiting teams. When the date for the first-ever edition of the event in the U.S. was announced PBR debuted a new format. In place of an increased roster, Team USA would field two teams, Eagles and Wolves. Making modern sports history, the Wolves team was announced to be composed exclusively of Native American bull riders. At stake for the home team is their piece of the five-part Global Cup trophy which is a horn and their national soil. The home team must win the event to successfully keep their trophy piece and native soil. Otherwise, the visiting team who wins the event is awarded these items. The competition continues until one nation captures all five horns for the trophy−including the native soil−of each country. That country lays claim to the title, "The Toughest Nation on Dirt."
Trophy and native soil
The trophy is composed of five individual bull horns that represent each country. Taken as a whole, the trophy represents the collective spirit of this worldwide competition. Each country's bull horn piece of the trophy also includes a vessel that holds its native soil. At each event's opening ceremonies, is a presentation where all share in viewing the host's riders depositing their dirt into their trophy piece. Following the presentation, the battle for the horn piece commences. Each team protects their native soil as a matter of pride and honor for their country.
Competition format
Each participating country hosts a three-day event each year. The host country can create a unique team competition for their event. Each team event showcases 24 of the top bull riders, wherein a national team qualifying event is staged to select the host team's 14 national team bull riders. Then each team selects their coach. The event is a two-day international competition which features 14 riders from the host country against 7 riders from each of the visiting countries. The home country is intentionally given a home town advantage with twice as many bull riders. Competitors earn money based on their team's performance. First place splits $400,000 among themselves while the last place team earns $42,000. Each rider has the chance to win $100,000 from their individual performances.
Annual events
2017 inaugural event
The competition format for the inaugural event is very different from a traditional bull riding event. There were two days of competition. Each team attempted to score up to 14 qualified rides. The winning team was decided by the highest combined score. Coaches made all the riding decisions. The winning team was determined by points. Each qualified ride was judged up to 100 points. The total of all qualified ride points was combined for the total points earned. The team with the highest number of points became the winner, in this case, Team USA had the most points with 1,026.75 points. Team USA's riders rode 12 bulls out of 18 total outs and had one disqualification for a bulls ridden ratio of 12-18-1. For first place they earned the top prize money of $400,000 and, of course, the Canadian horn piece of the Global Cup Trophy. In 2017, the inaugural event was hosted from November 9 through 11 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The event paid out the second largest prize amount in North America, with only the PBR World Finals paying out more. By the end of the event, Team USA had become the winner. Team USA consisted of 2016 PBR World Champion Cooper Davis, Derek Kolbaba, Brennon Eldred, Cole Melancon, Stormy Wing, 2009 PBR Rookie of the Year Cody Nance, 2012 PRCA Champion Cody Teel and was coached by two-time PBR World ChampionJustin McBride.
Winning statistics
Source:
2018 event
In 2018, the next event was hosted in the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, from June 9 though 10. Fourteen of Australia's top cowboys will compete to win the event on their home turf. The prizes that the PBR paid out in Australian are a record $750,000 for that country. Qudos Bank Arena is first-rate facility is situated in Sydney Olympic Park, and is formerly known as the Sydney Super Dome, which completed construction in 1999. It formerly hosted the PBR Australia World Finals since 2010. The general manager of PBR Australia said that this venue has also hosted the Olympic Games, and that it is very fitting to host this event in the largest city in the Australia. For Australia, they have chosen their competition format, and they announced it in February 2018. Each team features three competitors. Those competitors are based on the final 2017 world standings for the series that started in Canada last November.
Australia: Lachlan Richardson, Aaron Kleier, and Troy Wilkinson
Brazil: Eduardo Aparecido, Kaique Pacheco, and Jose Vitor Leme
Canada: Dakota Buttar, Jordan Hansen, and Brock Radford.
Mexico: Edgar Durazo, Francisco Morales, and Juan Carlos Contreras
United States: 2017 PBR World Champion Jess Lockwood, Derek Kolbaba, and Cooper Davis
Source: Each visiting team is composed of 7 bull riders in Sydney. Coaches chose the riders. Team Australia, same as the home team inaugural event, benefited from the host team advantage, and had14 bull riders. Australia's additional 11 bull riders were chosen by 1998 PBR World Champion Troy Dunn, their coach. The PBR chose the coaches for this event and they are as follows:
Australia: Troy Dunn
Brazil: Renato Nunes
Canada: Aaron Roy
Mexico: Gerardo Venegas
United States: Justin McBride
McBride defended his team's possession of the Canadian horn and native soil they won in the Canadian event in 2017. Roy is returned to helm the Canadian team again. Dunn, Nunes, and Venegas were new to coaching their teams in their respective countries. All three bull riders have exceptionally notable backgrounds that qualifies them for this position. Lastly, the competition is based on the best 12 qualified rides. The team with the highest aggregate score when the event is over won the trophy with the Canadian horn and also receives the Australian horn. This event, the Brazil team won the trophy.
Winning statistics
Source:
2019 event
The third leg of the PBR Global Cup took place on February 9 and 10, 2019 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. For this event, the United States was split into two teams: the Eagles and the Wolves. Team Brazil won their second straight Global Cup at the Arlington stop.
2020 event
On February 15 and 16, 2020, the PBR Global Cup again visited AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, marking the first time a global PBR competition had visited the same venue in consecutive years. The United States was again split into two teams, the Eagles and the Wolves. The competition was won by the USA Eagles.
