The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) makes its first stop ever in Memphis, Tenn., for the Memphis Invitational presented by Cooper Tires. Memphis is stop 24 of 30 in the race to the Built Ford Tough World Finals. On Friday, Aug. 20 and Saturday, Aug. 21, the world's Top 40 bull riders invade FedExForum. Tickets are on sale now, starting at $10, and can be purchased online at www.Ticketmaster.com, in person at the FedExForum box office or by calling (800) 745-3000. This event is brought to you locally by Cowboy Corner.

Expected to compete at the Memphis Invitational are fan favorites such as current world leader Renato Nunes (Buritama, SP, Brazil), No. 2 in the world standings Austin Meier (Kinta, Okla.), 2008 World Champion Guilherme Marchi (Leme, SP, Brazil), and PBR superstar J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, N.C.). Also anticipated in Memphis are Tennessee native and 2009 Rookie of the Year Cody Nance (Paris, Tenn.), along with East Coast bull riders Sean Willingham (Summerville, Ga.) and Shane Proctor (Mooresville, N.C.), and current No. 10 in the World standings McKennon Wimberly (Cool, Texas).

The Memphis Invitational presented by Cooper Tires consists of three rounds of competition. Scores from Rounds 1 and 2 are combined, with the Top 15 riders advancing to the Built Ford Tough Championship Round after intermission on Saturday. In the end, the cowboy with the highest total score on three bulls will be declared the winner.

The PBR is having the deepest title race in history. In the first half of the season there were nine lead changes, with six different riders on top of the standings, including Nunes, who is ranked first for the second time after his victory in Pueblo, Colo., in May. The first 23 events have produced 17 different winners, including Meier, who has won a season-leading four events and enters Memphis ranked second, only 974.75 points behind Nunes.

PBR is the premiere bull riding organization in the world, boasting athletes from the United States, Mexico, Australia, Brazil and Canada. One of the fastest growing sports in the country, the PBR’s events air weekly on VERSUS, NBC and CBS. For more information on Professional Bull Riders, please visit www.pbr.com or contact Sara Broun at (719) 242-2800 (sbroun@pbrnow.com).

Join PBR on Facebook www.facebook.com/TeamPBR and Twitter http://twitter.com/teamPBR.

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About the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR)
More than 100 million viewers tune in each year to the PBR on VERSUS, NBC and CBS and a host of foreign networks across the globe. With approximately 400 hours of primetime programming annually, the PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air, in addition to attracting over two million live event attendees each year with its multi-tiered event structure which includes the marquee Built Ford Tough Series and Touring Pro Division. The PBR is headquartered in Pueblo, Colo., and has over 1,200 bull riders compete in more than 300 PBR-sanctioned competitions in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico.

For more on the PBR, please visit www.pbr.com, www.teampbr.com, www.pbr.tv, www.myspace.com/teampbr, http://twitter.com/teampbr, or www.pbr.com/worldfinals.