DETROIT - The Professional Bull Riders announced that
Big & Rich with special guest Cowboy
Troy have been added to the PBR Built Ford Tough Series
Last Cowboy Standing event at Ford Field on March 10, 2012.
Comprised of Big Kenny Alphin, and "The Celebrity
Apprentice" winner John Rich, the duo has garnered
multiple GRAMMY, ACM, CMA and CMT Music Award nominations. Their
hits include their infectious smash-hit singles, "Save a Horse
(Ride a Cowboy)," "Comin' to Your City" for ESPN College Game Day,
"8th of November," and "Lost in this Moment."
Big & Rich with special guest Cowboy Troy will perform at 8
p.m., prior to the world's top-ranked bull riders and the fiercest
bucking bulls taking the field for an action-packed event. Cowboy
Troy has become one of the most prominent African-American country
performers since Charley Pride, with one major difference. Troy's
music is a unique blend of country and rap that he calls
"hick-hop."
Together and separately, they have raised funds for many
organizations and causes. Kenny has been part of efforts to combat
mountaintop removal of coal mining and been part of relief efforts
in Darfur. John was declared the 2011 winner of "The Celebrity
Apprentice" and raised $1.4 million for St. Jude Children's
Research Hospital.
Tickets begin at $10, and include the concert at 8 p.m. and the
PBR Built Ford Tough Series event at 9 p.m. Tickets are on sale at
the Ford Field box office, www.ticketmaster.com and by
telephone at (800) 745-3000. The PBR and Ford are offering a
limited number of Built Ford Tough All aXXess passes for $200. In
addition to providing the best seats for the bull riding, the
passes allow the bearer to go onto the dirt before the event,
allowing them to meet PBR riders to get autographs and
photographs.
The PBR Built Ford Tough Series event will be a
progressive-elimination format with all of the Top 35 bull riders
in the world riding a bull in Round 1. Riders who reach 8 seconds
in Round 1 will advance to the next round, where they will each
ride another bull. The elimination format continues until there is
only one cowboy left. There will be a maximum of five rounds. The
event winner will receive a minimum of $100,000.
It is the first visit to Ford Field for the premier bull riding
organization that features the world's highest-paid best bull
riders competing against the toughest bucking bulls on the planet.
Riders scheduled to compete in Detroit include 2011 World Champion
and 2010 Rookie of the Year Silvano Alves, who has
earned almost $1.8 million in his first 18 months competing in the
BFTS, and Luke Snyder, who won the inaugural Last
Cowboy Standing in front of a sellout crowd in Las Vegas in 2011,
earning $216,500 - the highest one-day payout of the season, and
the second-highest in history.
Detroit is the 10th stop of the 2012 BFTS season, which opened on
Jan. 6-8 with capacity crowds at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The BFTS will make 28 stops in 23 states before the Built Ford
Tough World Finals in Las Vegas on Oct. 24-28, 2012. The World
Finals are where the PBR World Champion will be crowned and awarded
the coveted championship buckle and a $1 million bonus. The richest
bull riding event in the world, the World Finals has a total purse
of more than $2 million.
The BFTS is televised every week on CBS, CBS Sports Network, NBC,
NBC Sports Network, and YouTube. BFTS telecasts are produced for
the PBR under a multi-year agreement with David Neal Productions, a
Los Angeles-based production company led by 34-time Emmy® Award
winner and Peabody Award winner David Neal, who
serves as executive producer.