ARLINGTON, Texas – The Oklahoma Freedom selected the 2022 world No. 9-ranked rider Eli Vastbinder (Statesville, North Carolina) as their first pick in the inaugural PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Team Series Draft, presented by ZipRecruiter, held in Fort Worth, Texas on May 23. Among eight teams, the Oklahoma Freedom had the eighth pick in the first round of the draft for the new bull riding league that begins competition in late July.
“I am really excited about the guys who we picked,” said Oklahoma Freedom General Manager Brandon Bates. “I called every one of them before we picked them and I asked one question, ‘How bad do you want to win?’ They were emphatic that that was their only goal, and that was really all that I needed. I was able to watch what Eli did. He is such a great right-hander, a super talented guy, a guy of great character. There was absolutely no way that I could let him fall, knowing that I needed two legitimate right-handed guys on my team. This is a team that is absolutely built to win, and I have got a guy in Chase Outlaw who isn’t afraid to get on a fire-breathing dragon.”
Bates had arranged a trade during the draft in which the Arizona Ridge Riders traded picks No. 22 and 27 to the Oklahoma team in return for picks No. 24 and 25. That set up a scenario in which the Freedom could draft Chase Outlaw (Hamburg, Arkansas), a gutsy competitor known to be a stalwart presence both on the dirt and in the locker room.
“There was such a build-up for this draft. It feels like for months we have scouted guys, went through them, watched how they ride, see how they matched up with different bulls and how they performed, try to keep track of injury reports. It was nice today to say, on your mark, get set go, and put your five players together to go compete with,” said Oklahoma Freedom Head Coach Cord McCoy. “That was pretty exciting, and to see the list of guys that we put together for Oklahoma Freedom, that was icing on the cake. We got five awesome guys ready to roll, healthy and ready to play.”
McCoy will lead the Oklahoma Freedom in its inaugural year, joined on staff by 2009 PBR World Champion Kody Lostroh as Assistant Coach.
“I am excited to be picked in the first round, and I couldn’t be picked by two guys I looked up to more growing up,” said newly selected Oklahoma Freedom rider Vastbinder. “I looked up to Cord and Kody Lostroh my entire career, and I am looking forward to this coming year.”
On the spurs of his breakthrough 2021 campaign that concluded with him being crowned the Rookie of the Year, Vastbinder continued to excel in 2022, again finishing a career-best No. 9 in the world standings.
Throughout the 2022 PBR Unleash The Beast campaign, Vastbinder logged two 90-point rides while registering his first career 15/15 Bucking Battle victory.
The Oklahoma Freedom also selected:
- ROUND 2 (1st of the Round, 9th overall) – Derek Kolbaba (Walla Walla, Washington)
- ROUND 3 (6th of the Round, 22nd overall) – Outlaw
- ROUND 4 (3rd of the Round, 27th overall) – Briggs Madsen (Tremonton, Utah)
- ROUND 5 (8th of the Round, 40th overall) – Caden Bunch (Tahlequah, Oklahoma)
2022 PBR Team Series Draft was held at Texas Live! in Arlington, Texas, a day after the 2022 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast concluded at Dickies Arena in nearby Fort Worth, Texas, crowning Daylon Swearingen as 2022 PBR World Champion.
The eight founding teams of the inaugural PBR Team Series – Austin Gamblers, Arizona Ridge Riders, Carolina Cowboys, Kansas City Outlaws, Missouri Thunder, Nashville Stampede, Oklahoma Freedom, and Texas Rattlers – participated in an initial 5-round draft, beginning the process of selecting which riders will be competing on their respective teams when the season begins on July 25-26 at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
All PBR riders in good standing with the league were eligible for the 2022 PBR Team Series Draft as long as they declared by May 6, 2022. Riders who declared for fewer than 10 events are eligible for a two-round supplemental draft on June 2.
In tonight’s initial draft, teams were eligible to select up to five riders unless they traded a draft pick. The June 2 supplemental draft, comprised of riders declaring availability for fewer than 10 regular season events (but no fewer than five regular-season events), will help teams fill seven protected roster positions.
When they begin their 10-event regular season, culminating in a Teams Championship in Las Vegas November 4-6, teams will have ten riders in total, including seven “Protected Roster” riders and three “Practice Squad” developmental riders.
The bull riding games that make up the 11-event season will feature five-on-five, head-to-head competition between two teams. Each regular-season event day will feature all teams in a game.
The inaugural draft order was determined by a lottery held on Jan. 7 in New York City.
Before the lottery draw, the PBR issued Draft guidelines that specified the two PBR-owned teams (Carolina Cowboys and Oklahoma Freedom) would select in the last two positions in the draft order and, further, that the draft would be conducted in a “snake” format in which the first team to select in Round 1 would receive the last pick in Round 2 (i.e., Pick 16), the first pick in Round 3 (i.e., Pick 17), and so forth.
The Oklahoma Freedom will host its inaugural homestand on Sept. 16-18 at Paycom Center.
The bull riding action for the 2022 PBR Team Series’ Oklahoma Freedom Days at Paycom Center begins at 7:45 p.m. CDT on Friday, September 16, 6:45 p.m. CDT on Saturday, September 17, and 1:15 p.m. CDT on Sunday, September 18, times subject to change.
Tickets for the three-day event are on sale now and start at $20, taxes and fees not included. Tickets can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com and PBR.com, at the Paycom Center Box Office, or by calling PBR customer service at 1-800-732-1727.
For more information about Oklahoma Freedom, visit https://pbr.com/teams/freedom/, Oklahoma Freedom on Facebook, @OK_Freedom_ on Instagram, or @OKfreedom_ on Twitter.
