World's Top 35 Bull Riders and Toughest Bucking Bulls Compete in 100K "Last Cowboy Standing" at Ford Field March 10, 2012

Detroit Invitational Championship And Spot At World Final For World Champion Title - Purse Of $2.2 Million

Defending 2011 World Champion Silvano Alves Scheduled In Detroit

DETROIT, Feb. 14, 2012 -- The "Toughest Sport on Earth" comes to Detroit for the first time as the top 35 bull riders and the toughest bucking bulls in the world will compete Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 8 p.m. in the Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) Detroit Invitational progressive-elimination "Last Cowboy Standing" format. The winner gets a minimum $100,000.

The PBR Points and money earned are used to qualify for the Built Ford Tough World Finals – the richest bull riding event on the planet – with a total purse of $2.2 million, including a bonus of $1 million to the PBR World Champion, who also receives the coveted World Championship buckle. This is the first of a new annual event in Detroit.

Riders scheduled to compete at Ford Field in Detroit include 2011 World Champion and 2010 Rookie of the Year Silvano Alves, who has earned almost $1.8 million in his first 18 months competing in the BFTS, and Luke Snyder, who won the inaugural Last Cowboy Standing in front of a sellout crowd in Las Vegas in 2011, earning $216,500 – the highest one-day payout of the season, and the second-highest in history.

The extreme sports event will be broadcast live nationally as Ford Field explodes with thrilling eight-second rides and jaw-dropping wrecks throughout the adrenaline-soaked two-and-a-half hour performance as the Professional Bull Riders' (PBR) insanely brave cowboys risk it all against monstrous four-legged athletes that can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds.

Detroit is the 10th stop of the 2012 BFTS season, which opened on Jan. 6-8 with capacity crowds at Madison Square Garden in New York.The BFTS will make 28 stops in 23 states before the Built Ford Tough World Finals in Las Vegas on Oct. 24-28, 2012.

PBR, which started on a shoe string as a dream by 20 riders in 1992, has made bull riding one of the most popular and fastest growing sports in the world. BFTS is televised every week on CBS, CBS Sports Network, NBC, NBC Sports Network and YouTube.

Tickets begin at $15, and are available at the Ford Field box office, www.ticketmaster.com and by telephone at (800) 745-3000. For more information on the PBR, go to www.pbr.com, or follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TeamPBR and http://twitter.com/PBR.

SOURCE Professional Bull Riders, Inc.