PUEBLO, Colo. – It has been one of the proudest moments in PBR’s history.

This weekend, after 41 days of no competition, the PBR’s Unleash The Beast returned to action with the Las Vegas Invitational, presented by Union Home Mortgage, at the Lazy E Arena in Oklahoma.

Hosting an event amid the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic when the rest of the sports world remains sidelined is a decision that PBR CEO Sean Gleason and his team did not take lightly.

Everyone on site at the Lazy E Arena adhered to strict safety guidelines, wearing masks, practicing social distancing and only interacting with individuals in their designated functional groups, which averaged 6.5 people.

Each rider, stock contractor, and staff member manning the smallest skeleton crew to ever produce a PBR event had to pass health screening to be allowed on the grounds of the Lazy E.

It’s a secure, sanitized environment unlike anything the sports world has ever seen.

“This beautiful ranch property is home to the largest arena dedicated to Western sports,” Gleason said of the Lazy E Arena to open the Championship Sunday broadcast on CBS Sports Network. “We’ve had plenty of space to be safe and responsible as we get our PBR family back to work, and hopefully our process will pave the way for other sports.

“We stand united with those fighting coronavirus on the front lines, and with you at home, our dedicated and loyal fans.”

Later on in the broadcast during intermission, Gleason joined the CBS Sports Network broadcast team of Anthony Lucia and two-time World Champion Justin McBride to discuss the intense preparations that went into creating a comprehensive safety plan approved by three layers of government in order to host such a one-of-a-kind event, and what the next steps are moving forward.

Anthony Lucia: This is a bit odd, us not to be able to rub elbows and be around everybody like we’re used to. It is such a family. But tell us a little bit about the task that you had to accomplish in order to get this done.

Sean Gleason: Well, you know, when we were going into Duluth, Georgia, when we found out that the guidance was crowds of 250 or fewer, we made a tough decision to have that event, 150 people in the building, and we thought, ‘You know what? We’ll just keep going with this format.’ And then two days later, the guidance was 10, and we had to start working on a plan that we could buck safely and within the CDC guidelines. And so for 40 days, we’ve been at it 15 hours a day to get to this point where we have functional groups, and a safe and responsible plan to get back to bucking.

AL: And you did all of those things, because this event is important beyond just the competition. This event is important for our entire country.

SG: Well, it’s important for every person that is associated with the PBR. We don’t make money if we don’t have events. And the riders are independent contractors. Our stock contractors have to feed their bulls. And we’re a family, and in hard times, you work your ass off to get your family back to work and help them out, help them through challenging times. So that was the driving force behind all this, not just to get back, but to do it in a safe and responsible way.

Justin McBride: Well Sean, you talk about that hard work, and it’s been apparent here during the event. Talk about all the different precautions and safety measures that everyone’s been going through while the event’s been going on.

SG: The first step that we went through as a team was really to identify every single point of contact that we could think of in terms of human-to-human contact. And not just in the same space, but the things that we touch and things that we have to address as far as the spread of coronavirus is concerned. And so we divided everybody up into functional groups. The average group size is about six and a half people here that are only allowed to interact in the work environment, in the social environment, living in these RVs and everything in the park. We want everyone to stay a minimum of six feet, preferably 10 feet, away. So it’s really social distancing, but also we knew we had to come together and work, and get bulls bucked. And so we worked through all of those issues. Everybody’s got masks and safety gear. So it’s a very safe environment.

AL: Well Sean, quickly, this event clearly has been a success. We’re about to go into the championship round. But what’s next moving forward?

SG: Well, we’re bucking bulls again here on the 9th and 10th of May, and then we’re going to come back on the 16th and 17th. I think most of us are just going to stay the whole week and get these two events in, and then we’ll see where we go from there.