Pro bull riding is back. Could KC Outlaws or Missouri Thunder win 2025 PBR title?

Two professional bull riding teams from the Show Me State are both in pursuit of the same championship gold buckle, but they are looking for help from different continents in order to obtain it.

The Kansas City Outlaws mined talent-rich South America during last month’s PBR Draft at Austin City Limits in Texas. The Outlaws selected four riders, with three hailing from Brazil.

The Missouri Thunder, on the other hand, went secured an Australian native named Boston Leather as their newest addition.

KC’s Outlaws and Springfield-based Thunder compete in the Professional Bull Riders Team Series, a rapidly expanding league entering its fourth season. Already locked into a weekly broadcast contract with CBS, with a slick marketing campaign behind it, the PBR Team Series is gaining popularity as a spectator sport.

Each of the league’s 10 franchises gets its own home event during the PBR season, which kicks off this week with the July 11-13 Wildcatter Days in Oklahoma City. The Springfield event will take place Aug. 29-31, while KC’s home dates — at T-Mobile Center — are set for Oct. 2-4.

The league expanded last year, adding two teams in locations not typically associated with bull riding: the New York Mavericks, operating out of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Florida Freedom, a team that relocated from Oklahoma and promptly obtained the top young rider in the sport, John Crimber.

The star-studded Austin Gamblers finally got over the hump last season by going on a wild run to win the championship in Las Vegas.

In the Show Me State, the Outlaws and Thunder are each entering their fourth year in the league. Kansas City’s Outlaws, coached by PBR legend and Hall of Famer JW Hart, were regular-season champions with an 18-8 record.

They entered Las Vegas as the top seed, with a super-talented roster featuring stars like Cassio Dias, Koltin Hevalow and Sandro Battista. The Outlaws looked like the team to beat, but the Las Vegas tournament has never been kind to No. 1 seeds: In each of the first two seasons, the team with the best record fell short of a championship ... and 2024 was no different, as the Outlaws lost to Austin.

Afterward, the Outlaws resolved to load up in the draft, selecting four new riders. With the first of three first-round picks, No. 4 overall, they got Daniel Feitosa of Brazil. He had previously been drafted by the Carolina Cowboys in the 2023 PBR Teams New Rider Draft, but injuries forced him to return to South America.

Feitosa regained his form in his home country and joins 2024 PBR World Champion Dias on the Outlaws.

“The number one guy on our draft board this year happened to be Danny Feitosa,” Hart said. “Every bull rider is going to have an injury history. There is healthy for you and then there is bull rider healthy.”

With their second first-round selection, No. 6 overall, KC took Eric Novoa, 19, from Vacaville, California.

“It means everything to me,” Novoa said. “I watch PBR and Austin and Kansas City are the two best teams. I was very shocked to get that call from J-Dub (Hart). There was a bunch of emotions.”

Novoa’s introduction to bull riding came at an early age.

“My brothers introduced me to it,” he said. “My grandma in Mexico, she loved watching the sport. My dad did it. My uncle did it. Nobody else in the family has continued the tradition so they are very excited and happy to see me doing it.”

Unfortunately, won’t compete this season. He separated a shoulder when he was thrown from a bull during an event in Utah shortly after the draft. Surgery was required.

“It is a shame,” said Hart of Novoa’s injury. “He had been on our radar for a while.”

With their third first-round pick, the Outlaws selected William Peao Rondônia out of Brazil. The team went back to Brazil in the second round, too, grabbing Nataniel Serra Aires.

So Kansas City is loaded with South American talent, though Hart claimed this is merely a coincidence.

“We really aren’t focused on any one place for our riders,” he said. “We draw up our board, and we rank the riders in order of how we like them. As the draft develops, we just take the best guy on the board as we see it. We look worldwide.”

“As far as Brazil goes ... (a) lot of them come from the northern ranches and they all share that hard work ethic. They are cowboys and they are all tough.”

The Outlaws’ championship hopes this year hinge largely on 2024 PBR World Champion Cassio Dias, who is returning from a fractured leg. He is said to be making remarkable progress.

“He had to have a rod inserted in his leg,” Hart said. “So he just now is starting to get back to where he was.”

The Missouri Thunder, meanwhile, went 10-16 last season and took a more subdued approach to the draft: Their lone pick was 19-year-old Boston Leather at No. 5 overall.

The Aussie with the perfect name for bull riding is the younger brother of Macaulie Leather, who was drafted two spots earlier by the Texas Rattlers. Boston Leather was the 2024 PBR Australia Champion and Rookie of the Year.

Thunder general manager and PBR legend Luke “Iron Man” Snyder said Australia is a good pipeline for talent.

“They have a really good PBR program down there,” he said, “and we have an office set up in Australia. It is turning out some really good riders.“

The Thunder also bring back Andrew Alvidrez, Boudreaux Campbell and Paolo Eduardo Rossetto; they and others are vying for spots in the starting five.

The Springfield team’s biggest offseason move may have come before the draft, when they signed 21-year-old Maverick Smith out of Mountain Grove, Missouri. Smith spent his rookie year with the New York Mavericks, frequently turning in successful rides during the second half of the season.

“The New York Mavericks may have bobbled it a little bit on this one,” Snyder said. “There was a cutdown date where teams can only protect seven guys. I think they fumbled it there by not protecting Maverick as one of their top seven.

“That very same day that he got released. We jumped on it and signed him. He is going to be a starter for us. He sets up as one of our top guys on this team.”

Born in Sparta, Missouri, Smith claimed a championship in South Dakota at an event called Do Deadwood. In the process, he edged out former Mavericks teammate Mason Taylor and other high-profile riders like Brady Fielder, Macaulie Leather and Thunder teammates Andrew Alvidrez and Trace Redd.

Smith’s 91-point ride, aboard Puckered Up, was one of the most impressive of his young career.

“That was pretty cool,” he said. “It (Deadwood, S.D.) is a historic place, just with all the things that happened in the town. Even the event itself. The chutes are made of wood. Just a really cool experience.”

After being left unprotected by the New York team, Smith said there was little doubt where he would land.

He’s excited to come home to Missouri and get the 2025 season underway.

“Everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I’m really excited. Ever since I signed up for the draft, Missouri is where I wanted to be the whole time.”

This story was originally published July 9, 2025 at 12:42 PM.