NASHVILLE – With the NFL (National Football League) surging through the 2024 preseason as each of the league’s 32 teams trim down rosters and assemble their final 53-man units for the quickly approaching campaign, yellow flags have been flying all over the place as players – and referees – get back in the swing of things.

Fans of the PBR Camping World Team Series may have noticed 5-on-5 coaches, themselves, have occasionally thrown some yellow laundry onto the dirt throughout each of the tour’s first four events. While the yellow flags of the football world suggest a penalty has occurred, the PBR’s yellow flags have represented a Coach’s Challenge.

Forcing the judges to take another look at something in the out, be it timing, possible bull fouls and beyond, coaches have been limited to one challenge per game. Wisely saved for calls they know require another look.

And while the Coach’s Challenges will remain when the circuit begins the fifth stop of its 12-event regular season Friday night at PBR Teams: Stampede Days, fans are going to see a new look in that process.

Official challenges will now be activated by the “challenge button,” similar to the Unleash The Beast tour, where riders must physically press the button within 30 seconds of the attempted out.

Located at the end of each respective set of chutes, the button will be eligible to be pressed 38 seconds after any given out begins (allowing 8 seconds for the ride and an encompassing 30-second window for coaches to challenge accordingly.)

Yellow flags will stick around as an added visual and opportunity to ensure judges see the challenge incoming. But a team’s first course of action is to press that challenge button within the allotted time.

Following each ride attempt, regardless of whether it’s deemed a qualified ride or buckoff, the 30-second clock will also now be displayed within arenas for fans to follow along in the potential drama.

Throughout Teams season three, we’ve seen coaches take differing approaches when it comes to utilizing their one challenge per game. Skippers like J.B. Mauney often use their challenge every game, hoping to stir up a second look rather regularly. Other coaches are generally reserved with their usage, and often don’t use the challenge at all, as the judges are the best in the business for a reason!

PBR continues to innovate the sport of team-based bull riding by utilizing a delicate mix of technology and common sense, as the tour doesn’t need to fix what isn’t broken, per se.

And with SkyStart, the league’s automated ride timing software (which recognizes the very moment a bull has exited the plane of the chute, triggering the 8-second clock to time the ride), fans can be ensured these competitions are being scored and timed with the most accurate standards.

PBR Teams: Stampede Days invades Bridgestone Arena Aug. 16-18 – So be sure to grab your tickets or follow along via the Merit Street broadcast beginning tonight at 9 pm ET and keep an eye out for the league’s revised challenge format beginning Friday night.

Additional tune-in note: CBS Television Network will have two games of the week in a Doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. ET in a special 2-hour PBR block.

After all, there’s just something fun, and dramatic, about the good ole’ alarm ringing through the arena, noting some possible updates to come!

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media