The difference is the Sunrise event, which takes place August 2-4, marks the home debut of the Florida Freedom, South Florida's first Professional Bull Riders (PBR) team. The Freedom spent its two first seasons in the five-on-five bull-riding league as the Oklahoma Freedom before announcing last November that it would relocate.
The reason for the move?
The league sees itself as an international sport — many of the riders on the Florida Freedom are from Brazil — and wants to take advantage of South Florida's diverse population. According to Freedom coach Paulo Crimber, the fact that Florida Freedom owner Heath Freeman lives in South Florida for part of the year also played a role in the move.
(Freeman is also the executive chairman of the AVP pro beach volleyball league and recently announced that he was bringing a Big3 basketball team to Miami in 2025.)
A native of Brazil, Crimber has fond memories of competing in South Florida three times a year as a bull rider. His career, however, was cut short by a pair of serious neck injuries, the second of which took place in Orlando in 2008.
"A bull fell on top of me," Crimber says. "I could be dead or paralyzed, but because of the grace and kindness of the Lord, I'm still here."
Crimber took three years off from bull riding before returning to the sport so that his son John could see him compete. Fast-forward a dozen years, and now the elder Crimber is coaching his 18-year-old son, whom the Freedom selected during its first pick in the PBR draft.
"I knew he was a bull rider since the day he started walking," Crimber says. "Everything he sat on he turned into bull riding like the couch and dog. I had a decision to make: I could help him be the greatest or just find out later that he was doing it behind my back. I made the decision to help him be the best they ever saw."
Crimber admits he is more nervous about his son's career than he was during his own, but not for the reasons you might think.
"I'm not afraid of him getting hurt. That's part of the sport we chose. It's going to happen at one time or another," the elder Crimber says. "I get more nervous about him dealing with the judges and competition. And people are mean and cruel and don't want to see you succeed. That's what I'm most afraid of — the disappointment."
Florida Freedom coach Paulo Crimber (second to right) poses with his son and bull rider, John Crimber (second to left)
Bull Stock Media photo
The PBR Teams league kicked off its third season on July 12 and will culminate with the championship in Las Vegas on October 18-20. The games air on CBS, Paramount+, Merit Street, and Merit+.
Bull riding has long had a reputation as a Southern sport, but it should be noted that the ten-team PBR league does include a New York City team, the New York Mavericks. And then there's the strong Brazilian presence in the league.
"Bull riding is popular in Brazil because there are very poor people there," says Crimber, who moved to the U.S. in 1998 when he was 18. "I was one of them. Most of the guys riding here are one of them. You could work for $30 a day or get on bulls or play soccer. Those are your options to give your family a better life."
According to Crimber, once you get on that bull, it becomes addicting.
"It's like touching the sky and walking on the moon," Crimber says. "It's the craziest and happiest feeling when you hear the whole stadium cheering for you. That's why we get so addicted to it. That's what I miss the most."
Before being named Florida Freedom's coach, Crimber coached the Arizona Ridge Riders. He says being around the sport as a coach has helped him cope with a career that was cut short.
"I get to live through every single member of the team every time that gate opens," Crimber says. "It really helps. I get to hang out behind the chutes and feel the adrenaline of the bull riders."
PBR Teams Freedom Days. 7:45 p.m. Friday, August 2, and Saturday, August 3, and 2:45 p.m. Sunday, August 4, at Amerant Bank Arena, 1 Panther Pkwy., Sunrise; pbr.com. Tickets are $20 to $275 via seatgeek.com.
