The PBR Challenger Series – the PBR here refers to Professional Bull Riders, not Pabst Blue Ribbon – is returning to Charlottesville this fall.
I’d like to be excited by it, but you’ve gotta know that this Professional Bull Riders entity was bought out earlier this year by TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of the MAGA-ring-kissing UFC, and also WWE, which does steady business with the Saudi royal family.
So, blood money, literally, and kowtowing to the likes of Dana White and his crowd.
PBR, like UFC and WWE, rakes in the cash – which is why TKO was willing to pull the trigger on the $3.25 billion deal to purchase the organization, which was founded in 1992 – but like UFC and WWE, only a fraction of that money, in the range of 15 percent, makes its way into the pockets of the guys and gals who put their necks on the line.
For comparison, athletes in MLB, the NBA and the NFL get in the area of 50 percent of the overall take.
Knowing that the bull riders are getting fleeced can take a smidge of the fun of watching them try to not get their sternums crushed by a 2,000-pound bull out of the equation.
Anyway, if my Debbie Downer act hasn’t soured you, the PBR folks will be at JPJ on a Friday night, Sept. 19, and tickets go on sale on Tuesday at Ticketmaster.com.
Ticketmaster: another reprehensible outfit there, but that’s another story for another day.
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Chris Graham
