Professional Bull Riders, known as PBR, describes the World Finals as its Super Bowl, with the competition determining the best bull rider and best bull for the year. Las Vegas hosted the PBR World Finals for 26 years. In 2020, the World Finals were held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington before returning in 2021 to Las Vegas, according to PBR officials. As part of a schedule restructure, PBR officials announced last year it would move its World Finals to Dickies Arena in Fort Worth for 2022, 2023 and 2024.
This year's World Finals at the arena included eight rounds of competition over two weeks in May.
“The city of Fort Worth and our partners at Dickies Arena, Cowtown Coliseum and the Historic Stockyards District made the move of relocating PBR World Finals to Fort Worth a resounding success,” PBR CEO and Commissioner Sean Gleason said by email. “World Finals is our most prestigious and important event, and our sport and our fans were welcomed with open arms amid two weeks of Western sports and lifestyle programming that we had dreamed about for years. We learned a lot in our first year and are now focused on making the biggest party in Texas even more exciting for our loyal fans in the years ahead.”
The annual event is projected to provide an estimated $28 million economic impact in Tarrant County, according to a memo as part of the July 12 commissioners court meeting.
Commissioners voted 5-0 at the meeting on a services agreement that provides Visit Fort Worth with $1.5 million "to assist with the costs related to making Tarrant County the long-term home for the PBR," according to the memo. The city of Fort Worth is expected to match that amount, according to the county memo.
The county's share will be funded through unclaimed funds received from the state related to electric cooperative credits for economic development, the memo stated.
