By Michael Kinney
Ahead of the third season PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Teams league, the Oklahoma Wildcatters found an intriguing way to bring attention to the Sooner state’s newest team.
PBR officials invited members of the Oklahoma Sooners football team to have a weigh-off against one of the bulls that will be on hand this weekend at the Wildcatter’s first-ever homestand July 12-14 at the Paycom Center. But it wasn’t just any regular players. They brought in the biggest men on the team to give it a fair comparison.
The bull, which goes by the name Top Dollar!, was rounded up onto the scale first and posted a weight of 1,528 pounds. All nine of the OU linemen then piled onto the industrial size scale and it came up to 2,502 pounds.
The sheer size of Top Dollar, which isn’t even the biggest bull on the PBR circuit, caught the attention of 6-foot-6, 303-pound offensive tackle Jake Taylor.
“We are arguably some of the biggest people on this earth and it is truly shocking to see just how big these beasts are,” said Taylor, a native of Las Vegas. “It was really interesting. The person who raised him came by and the bull kind of became a puppy for a second. He got all happy seeing his owner. But they are absolutely intimidating.”
The Oklahoma Wildcatters are one of two new bull riding teams joining the PBR Teams league for the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series season, which will begin July 12-14 at the Paycom Center. Each night the event features four, five-one-five matches, with the top scoring squad declared the winner.
After the PBR made its debut in Oklahoma City last year, they announced the formation of Oklahoma-based squad. Owned by Midwest City native Talor Gooch, the Wildcatter’s first-ever event will kick off the PBR season.
During the three-day homestand, the Wildcatters will take on the 2023 PBR Teams Champion Texas Rattlers (July 12), Arizona Ridge Riders (July 13) and Austin Gamblers (July 14) in head-to-head competition.
The bull riding action begins at 7:45 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Sunday the event will tip off at 1:45 p.m. Tickets for the event are on sale now and start at $20 and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com and PBR.com or at the Paycom Center Box Office.
Their showdown with the Rattlers during their homestand will mark the first of three iterations of bull riding’s version of the Red River Showdown. Oklahoma will also play Texas on Aug. 25 in Austin and Sept. 26 in Fort Worth as the Wildcatters look to dethrone the league’s reigning champions and bring the world title back to Oklahoma this October.
The Wildcatters will also take on the Lone Star State’s Austin Gamblers three times as they look to establish Oklahoma as the premier bull riding state in the country.
Oklahoma filled out its roster through an expansion draft and free agency. Their lineup includes Austin Richardson (via Austin Gamblers), Cort McFadden (via Austin Gamblers), Josh Frost (via Carolina Cowboys), Kyler Oliver (free agent), Tahlequah, Oklahoma’s Hayden Harris (via Austin Gamblers) and Eduardo Matos (via Missouri Thunder).
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