Major Digital Media Changes Scheduled For 2018 PBR Season

Over the last few years the fan base has grown tremendously as the Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series has become more of a household name throughout the country.  Along with the growth has been network changes, ownership changes and a need for a more interactive social media and digital platform for fans to follow.  In the last couple of years fans around the country have had the opportunity to follow everything that is happening in the world of professional rodeo with a very interactive digital platform that the Professional Bull Riders organization has offered at no charge.

As the fans continue to grow in numbers there will be more and more of them that have no other option to watch any of the events throughout the season than on the PBRLive.com platform associated with its very own website.  Throughout the last two years the PBR has turned to the fans to find out what they would want to see and what is not needed in order to fine tune what they are presenting to those watching on their computers or tablets.  Now, we all thought that was a great thing and that they were keeping their fans involved but over the last couple of days the reason has come to the forefront as to the exact reason why many of the fans now feel this was being done.  Many changes must have been being planned behind the scenes that would leave the loyal PBR fans wondering what will happen next.

 

Just about two years ago the Professional Bull Riders organization was sold to the new management company WMG/IMG which would turn a organization that was started by a group of bull riders into a corporate owned business.  As the new ownership came aboard there were many changes within the ranks of the PBR staff as well as some noticeable differences when attending events as media personnel.  The feeling surrounding the “corporate” way of handling situations have been giving the Professional Bull Riders organization a different feel for quite some time but no one has wanted to talk about it publicly since it did not involve the beloved fans of the sport as a whole.  That all changed last night when a huge “logistical” change was announced that will affect the rest of the 2017 season and take full effect at  the start of the 2018 PBR Built Ford Tough Series season.

The PBR Live digital platform that we have all come to love will effectively be discontinued immediately following the Rumble In The Rockies event this weekend in Colorado Springs.  They say the reason for this is to begin the process of changing over the free version of PBR Live to a paid version where you can either subscribe monthly or pay a full year at a discount.  This will, by all accounts, end your option to watch events from across the county live, in real time, unless you want to pay to do the same thing you have been doing as a courtesy for years prior. Although you can still watch every round of every event throughout the season at a later time.

Along with the announcement are some questions that continue to flow in as to what this will mean for the fans and why they have decided to makethis change and how the fans that have kept them in business would react to the news.  At the time this announcement was made, it was also stated that those that choose to subscribe will be seeing some new faces on the website based telecast but did not mention all that might be and also mentioned that the subscription would also include all BlueDEF Velocity tour event stops, international events and other western lifestyle events as well.  This news is about the only thing that are leaving a few fans happy about but will see what the fans think of the changes as we head to the streets in Las Vegas to get fan reactions.

As I stated earlier, the new platform will roll out as a pay by month or pay by year option for those fans wanting to watch events live.  There will still be the option of watching the tape delay on CBS Sports Network but if you are a fan that wants to watch things unfold live and unedited you will now have to pay to play, so to speak.  We all know that there will be a wide range of reactions and thoughts regarding this and the Rodeo Round Up would love to hear them.  Feel free to head over to our Facebook page and leave your thoughts on this new development and announcement.  If you are so inclined, we will provide a direct link with Sean Gleason’s contact information, the CEO of the Professional Bull Riders, so you can let the front office staff know what you think about these decisions as well.  Don’t worry as the Rodeo Round Up team will continue to bring you all of the round by round recaps you have enjoyed throughout the last few years at no charge to you!

 

Sean Gleason Contact Info:

Sean Gleason

1 (719) 242-2727

sean@pbr.com

As we are all left scratching our heads as to the reasoning behind this sudden change in the Professional Bull Riders digital platform all we can do is wait and see what it will do to its fan base and what the overall impact will be in the future.  I think that we can all understand some of the reasonings behind the change but the question that I keep getting from our loyal followers is why they have chosen to cut off the last three events of the 2017 season, in turn, giving absolutely no warning of the changes as we approach the 2017 PBR World Finals?  Our Rodeo Round Up team will continue to dig for answers and bring you all up to speed on anything that we find out.

It is quite easy to follow all the breaking news and excitement with the Rodeo Round Up simply by copying this website into your favorites in your web browser for easy one-click access to event statistics. You can also like and follow us on Facebook here, or by liking and following us on Instagram at @rodeoroundup and on Twitter at @therodeoroundup.  You can have easy access to all of the video interviews Jason does from all the events across the country as well by simply clicking the link HERE to be transferred to the Rodeo Round Up’s Youtube channel as well! Jason has also made it easy for you to be a part of his interviews by opening up a listener comment line. If you have a question for a certain rodeo star simply call in and leave your name, where you are from, who the question is for and what your question is and he will do his best to get it answered for you during his interviews!

 

 


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