GLENDALE, Ariz. – With the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series season officially in the books with the conclusion of Ridge Rider Days in Glendale, Arizona, the majority of the 2024 PBR Teams Championship field is now set.

The Kansas City Outlaws (19-9) and Carolina Cowboys (18-9-1) earned the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, securing first-round byes at the Championship in Las Vegas on Oct. 18-20.

The Top 6 teams qualified directly for the PBR Teams Championship, and Carolina and Kansas City will have to wait and see who they play on Oct. 19 following the conclusion of competition on Oct. 18.

The bottom four teams in the final regular-season standings – the Arizona Ridge Riders, New York Mavericks, Oklahoma Wildcatters, and Nashville Stampede – will have to earn their spot inside T-Mobile Arena via the Ride-In Round at South Point Arena on Oct. 17. The Top 2 teams in the Ride-In Round will advance to complete the playoff bracket as the last two seeds.

The playoffs are the same five-on-five, head-to-head format fans saw during the regular season. Two teams will be eliminated from the PBR Team Series Championship each day. The first two rounds of competition will feature a “Last Chance” playoff game for the three teams who lost their first game earlier in the night.

The Outlaws secured the No. 1 seed in the most dramatic fashion possible, defeating the Cowboys in their last game of the season to snatch the regular-season championship away from the team that had been leading the race all season. Kansas City rode three bulls to defeat the faltering Carolina, 264.5-0, and put a bow on their 2-0 weekend.

The Cowboys, who started the season 10-0-1 before going 8-9 the rest of the way, went 1-2 in Glendale. They rolled over the Texas Rattlers on Saturday night, 345.75-168.5, to clinch a first-round bye but fell to the Florida Freedom on Friday and Kansas City on Sunday and had to settle for the No. 2 seed.

Fans can watch all of the PBR Team Series Championship from Las Vegas on Merit Street and CBS.

Let’s take a look at what the playoff picture is looking like.

Ride-In Round

Brand new this year is the Ride-In Round on Oct. 17. Following the Challenger Series Championship at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa, the four bottom teams in the standings at the end of the regular season will battle it out for two berths in the Championship. Those teams will compete in one four-way game, with the top two finishers advancing to T-Mobile Arena.

No. 7 Nashville Stampede (12-16) vs. No. 8 Oklahoma Wildcatters (11-16-1) vs. No. 9 Arizona Ridge Riders (11-17) No. 10 New York Mavericks (11-17)

It will be the long road to T-Mobile Arena for the 2022 PBR Teams Champion Nashville Stampede, who improved on their 11-17 record last season. The Stampede went 1-1 to conclude the season in Glendale, but the late-season addition of sparkplug Chase Outlaw could give the boys in blue and gold a boost as they make a run for another gold buckle.

The Ridge Riders had an incredibly disappointing 2024 campaign, sitting in the No. 10 seed for much of it after clocking in at No. 5 in both prior seasons. However, the Ridge Riders’ aggregate is the fifth-best in the league, and they went 3-0 at their homestand, so they’re riding the hot hand heading into Vegas.

Rounding out the Ride-In Round are the league’s two expansion teams, the Wildcatters and the Mavericks. The Wildcatters went 1-1 in Glendale, upsetting the Austin Gamblers on Friday to notch their final win of the season, while the Mavericks went 1-2, also with an upset win over the Gamblers on Saturday.

Can either of the new kids on the block pull an upset? The PBR Teams Championship is no stranger to Cinderella runs, with the No. 8 Stampede going from worst to first in 2022 and the No. 8 Missouri Thunder making it to fourth place in 2023.

Round 1 Matchups

No. 3 Florida Freedom (16-12) vs. TBD No. 8 seed

The Freedom are one of the hottest teams going to end the season, riding three or more bulls in nine of their last 11 games. At Ridge Rider Days, they went 1-2, slotting into the No. 3 seed despite a record and an aggregate that would’ve won them the regular-season championship in 2022. With MVP John Crimber on the roster, Florida looks to be a very dangerous contingent when riding as many bulls as possible is the name of the game in Las Vegas. Whichever team advances from the Ride-In Round into this matchup has a tough task on their hands.

No. 4 Texas Rattlers (16-12) vs. TBD No. 7 seed

The 2023 PBR Teams Champions followed up their championship campaign with another scorcher, going 16-12 for the third season in a row behind Great 8 award winner Brady Fielder, who finished the season with a 70.6% riding percentage. At Ridge Rider Days, they went 1-1, beating the Mavericks on Sunday to finish their season on a high note. Texas has never finished worse than third in Las Vegas, so you know they’ll be a team to watch.

No. 5 Austin Gamblers (13-15) vs. No. 6 Missouri Thunder (12-16)

It’s been a thoroughly disappointing 2024 campaign for the Gamblers, who won the regular-season championship in both prior seasons despite the addition of 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco to an already stacked roster. Austin went 0-2 in Glendale, removing Pacheco and Jose Vitor Leme in their final game to let the rest of the roster get some reps in. Will the strategy succeed?

The Thunder, meanwhile, head into Las Vegas with a little bit of momentum. They may have finished below Austin and with a worse record, but it was a huge improvement over their dismal 8-20 performance in 2023. Missouri went 1-1 to conclude the season in Arizona, edging the Stampede on Friday to put itself ahead in the bubble race.

Last Chance Game

What is the Last Chance Game?

The Last Chance Game takes place on Friday night in Vegas and features the three losers from the above games. The team with the best aggregate score in the Last Chance Game advances to the second round, along with three winners of the head-to-head games.

PBR Team Series Second-Round Matchups (Oct. 19)

No. 1 Kansas City (19-9) vs. lowest remaining seedNo. 2 Carolina (18-9-1) vs. second-lowest remaining seed
No. 3 highest remaining seed vs. No. 4 highest remaining seed
Last Chance: three-way last chance game (three teams who lost in the above games compete; best team score advances to semifinals)

Semifinals / Championship Game (Oct. 20)

Top remaining seed vs. lowest remaining seed (winner advances to championship game)
Second top remaining seed vs. third top remaining seed (winner advances to championship game)
Third-Place Game: Loser of Game 1 above vs. Loser of Game 2 above
Championship Game: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2

Photo courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media