ST. LOUIS – Two-time World Champion Jess Lockwood cannot think of too many ridiculous purchases he has made in the last four years, but the youngest bull rider to surpass $4 million in career earnings does indeed remember at least one.
In the summer of 2017, a 19-year-old Lockwood purchased a Slingshot – an open-air, three-wheeled roadster – for $15,000. Lockwood had for it about a year before getting rid of it the following summer.
“That’s about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever bought, and I don’t think that was too bad because it was only $15,000,” Lockwood said with a laugh this past weekend.
Lockwood, now 22, became only the fifth bull rider in PBR history to surpass $4 million in career earnings three weeks ago at the Express Ranches Invitational in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with his third-place finish.
“You talk about $4 million, 10, 15, 20 years ago, that’s kind of unheard of,” Lockwood said. “And in today’s bull riding, (those founders) paved the way for us and made it possible.”
Lockwood ($4,095,975.70) reached the $4 million mark in just over 39 months, and the 2016 PBR Rookie of the Year quickly had to get a crash course in financial planning during those three years.
“It’s made me a lot more responsible and grown-up a lot quicker,” Lockwood said. “Shoot, I bought my place when I was 20 years old, and I’ve done a lot of growing up since then.”
The No. 2 bull rider in the world has shattered a series of PBR records since he received that first PBR paycheck – $2,622.68 for a third-place finish at the 2016 Velocity Tour stop in Clovis, New Mexico, on Oct. 31.
However, Lockwood is not focusing on one day becoming the richest bull rider in PBR history, an honor currently held by two-time World Champion and future Ring of Honor inductee J.B. Mauney ($7,388,876.09). Lockwood is more so thinking about passing three-time World Champions Adriano Moraes and Silvano Alves in the record books.
“Yeah, those world titles are what mean the most to me, but the money’s damn sure nice,” Lockwood said. “It means I can hopefully retire sooner than later.”
Top Money Earners in PBR History
J.B. Mauney ($7,388,876.09)
Silvano Alves ($6,114,613.98)
Guilherme Marchi ($5,338,428.48)
Justin McBride ($5,186,799.35)
Jess Lockwood ($4,095,975.70)
Lockwood nearly became the first rider to win $2 million in one season last year when he won his second championship. The Volborg, Montana, native concluded 2019 with $1.8 million in season earnings.
If not for a broken collarbone that sidelined him for three months, there is a good chance that Lockwood would have surpassed the $2 million mark.
“I made I think $1.8 (million) last year, and that’s pretty incredible,” Lockwood said. “A $2 million year is unheard of in the PBR. I don’t think I’ve had the start I did last year quite, but you add in nine events, that’s making up a hell of a lot of ground.”
While $2 million is certainly looking more and more achievable, there is even the outside possibility of Lockwood winning $3 million in 2020 alone if he could win the 2020 PBR World Championship and the WCRA’s Triple Crown of Rodeo (TCR) bonus.
The TCR is an annual bonus that will pay $1 million to any one athlete or collection of athletes who win first place in any three consecutive WCRA $1 Million Major Rodeos.
Lockwood is set to compete at the first WCRA $1 Million Major Rodeo of 2020 this Friday at the Royal City Roundup in Kansas City, Missouri.
The 2019 PBR World Finals event winner is one of nine bull riders tentatively set to compete at the marquee rodeo being held inside the Sprint Center.
Royal City Roundup Bull Riding Contestants
Two-time World Champion Jess Lockwood
World No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme
2012 PRCA champion Cody Teel
No. 3 Joao Ricardo Vieira
No. 39 Dakota Louis
No. 64 Stetson Lawrence
No. 86 Colten Fritzlan
Sam Oliver
Justin McCall
Fans can watch Round 1 on RidePass beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET, and the conclusion on CBS national television at 12:30 ET on Saturday.
Lockwood trails Jose Vitor Leme by 115 points in the world standings. One rider can earn a maximum of 44 points toward the PBR world standings at the WCRA event Friday night. The Unleash The Beast’s Caterpillar Classic then takes place Saturday and Sunday in Kansas City.
The $2 million mark was something that PBR co-founder Cody Lambert and Lockwood talked about three years ago.
“We were talking one day about how to motivate yourself, and that is what I told him,” Lambert said. “No bull rider has ever won $2 million in one year, and there is no reason why he can’t be the first one.”
The fact that Lockwood has already won more than $4 million in less than 100 premier series events is an example of how the sport continues to reward its top bull riders with more money.
“That is what we want it to be,” Lambert said. “We want it to grow every year. It is exciting for me to see Cole Melancon win so much in two weeks. It is more than I won in my best year, and maybe in my best two years.”
Lockwood’s career earnings are also tied directly to performance seeing as bull riders do not have salary-based contracts, compared to sports like football, baseball, hockey and basketball.
Of course, guaranteed money is always a nice thing, but Lockwood does see the benefit to having his paycheck directly tied to his performance.
“I wish we got paid more, honestly,” Lockwood said. “You never don’t wish you could get paid more for doing this. But I like the fact that we don’t get paid unless we do our job. It makes you work every single time instead of, you watch some NBA guys or something and it’s like, ‘Well this sucks because they ain’t even trying.’ It just sucks watching. It ain’t like that in bull riding.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko