Problems, ticket sales cancel Thursday's round
Bull riding: U.S. Smokeless Challenger Tour Championship

By Ed Godfrey

Published: February 14, 2007

Thursday night's round of the U.S. Smokeless Challenger Tour Championship was canceled because of logistical problems, Sean Gleason, chief executive officer of the Professional Bull Riders, Inc., said Tuesday.

Originally, the $1 million bull riding event had four rounds scheduled for the Ford Center — Thursday through Sunday. But Thursday night's session was canceled and ticket holders are being issued refunds.

When the event was scheduled last year, PBR officials knew about tonight's Hornets basketball game at the Ford Center, Gleason said.

However, they thought there would be enough time to prepare the building for Thursday night's bull riding, he said. But the Ford Center was not going to be made available to the PBR as soon as they first thought, he said.

Moving the dirt and renovating the Ford Center for bull riding still could have been completed in time "but it was going to take flawless execution to pull it off,” Gleason said.

That, coupled with slow ticket sales for the Thursday night performance, led to the cancellation, Gleason said. At the time of cancellation, only slightly more than 100 tickets had been sold to the general public, he said.

Most of the tickets had been sold to members of the PBR fan club and Lazy E patrons and those tickets have been refunded, Gleason said.

Anyone holding tickets for Thursday night should contact their ticket seller for a refund, he said.

Good seats still remain for Friday, Saturday and Sunday performances, he said.

To make up for Thursday's cancellation, the PBR will have a sponsor and fan appreciation party Thursday at the Cox Center from 5 to 8 p.m. There, fans can meet and get autographs of PBR bull riders.