JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For the second consecutive season, and ninth time in history, the PBR’s (Professional Bull Riders) premier Unleash The Beast will buck into Jacksonville, Florida, holding the Michelob ULTRA PBR Jacksonville on February 22-23, 2025 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.

For two nights only, more than 30 of the best bull riders in the world will go head-to-head against the sport’s rankest bovine athletes, showcasing the ultimate showdown of man vs. beast in one of the most exciting and unpredictable live sporting events to witness.

The upcoming Michelob ULTRA PBR Jacksonville will be the 14th event of the new individual season as riders vie for early points in the race to be crowned the 2025 PBR World Champion.

When PBR last travelled to Jacksonville in February 2024, teenage phenom John Crimber (Decatur, Texas) went a perfect 3-for-3 to win his first-ever PBR Unleash The Beast. The 18-year-old dramatically won the event on the last ride of the night, scoring a monstrous 91 points on Doze You Down (Dozier Cattle Co./Martinez Bucking Bulls), his first 90-point ride in premier PBR competition. Crimber overtook the No. 2 rank in the race for the 2024 PBR World Championship, a position he would retain for nearly the entire remainder of the regular season.

As the 2024 season continued to unfurl, Crimber registered an additional eight Top 10 finishes before qualifying for his career-first World Finals.

Once in Texas, despite finishing second both in Eliminations and the Championship, where Crimber won the Lane Frost/Brent Thurman Award for his unrivaled 95-point ride on Big Bank (Universal Pro Rodeo/Rachel & Dustin Powell/Delmas/Williams), he did not have enough to catch eventual gold buckle winner Cassio Dias (Sao F. de Sales, Brazil). Dias, who finished 26^th in Jacksonville, edged Crimber by a mere 238.5 points to finish on top of the title race.

The 2024 event is part of a storied history for PBR’s premier series in Jacksonville.

Prior to the 2024 event, the Unleash The Beast had not travelled to Jacksonville since 2021 when the event played a key role in shaping that year’s PBR World Championship race. Atop the leaderboard, 2016 PBR World Champion Cooper Davis (Jasper, Texas) went a perfect 3-for-3, including a 90-point championship round ride, to win the tour stop, and solidify his world No. 3 rank. Looking down the leaderboard, courtesy of a fourth-place finish, combined with an uncharacteristic shut-out of previous world No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme (Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil), 2018 PBR World Champion Kaique Pacheco (Itatiba, Brazil) reclaimed the top position in the world standings.

As the intense world-title race continued to unfurl, Leme, Pacheco and Davis remained the year’s top contenders for the World Championship, with Leme ultimately earning his second gold buckle, capping his season with the historic 98.75-point ride aboard Woopaa (Barker Bulls/Hookin’ W Ranch), the highest-marked ride in PBR history.

In the 2002 debut of PBR’s premier series in the city, Mike Lee (Decatur, Texas) won the inaugural event, followed closely by two-time PBR World Champion Chris Shivers (Jonesville, Louisiana) in second, the year’s eventual World Champion Ednei Caminhas (Indaiatuba, Brazil) in fourth, and three-time PBR World Champion Adriano Moraes (Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil) in fifth.

After Jody Newberry (Ada, Oklahoma) topped the Jacksonville event leaderboard in 2003, Justin McBride (Whitesboro, Texas) tied for the victory in 2005 alongside Brian Courson (Winter Haven, Florida) en route to the first of McBride’s two PBR World Championships.

PBR stopped three more times in Jacksonville. The remaining Michelob ULTRA PBR Jacksonville Invitational event winners were: Travis Briscoe (Edgewood, New Mexico) – 2006; J.B. Mauney (Statesville, North Carolina) – 2008; and Eduardo Aparecido (Gouvelandia, Brazil) – 2017.

The bull riding action for the Michelob ULTRA PBR Jacksonville begins with Round 1 at 7:45 p.m. ET on Saturday, February 22, followed by Round 2 and the championship round at 2:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 23. All competing bull riders will get on one bull each in Rounds 1-2. Following Round 2 Sunday afternoon, the riders’ individual two-round scores will be totaled with the Top 12 advancing to the championship round for one more out and a chance at the event title.

Tickets for the two-day event go on sale Friday, October 4 at 10 a.m. ET, and start at $15, taxes and fees not included. Tickets can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com and PBR.com, at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena Box Office or by calling PBR customer service at (800) 732-1727.

PBR Elite Seats are available for avid fans who want an exclusive VIP experience while enjoying the world’s top bull riding circuit. These tickets, available in three tiers, offer premium seats, personal on-site concierge at the PBR fan loyalty booth, and more. For more on elite seats, visit https://pbr.com/elite-seats-unleash-the-beast, or call (800) 732-1727

For more information about the PBR and to see the full 2025 PBR Unleash The Beast schedule, visit PBR.com.

Photo courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media