FORT WORTH, Texas – The Austin Gamblers of the PBR Camping World Team Series has sported the likeable “All In” slogan for a while now.

Both an ode to the team’s riders and coaches giving their all while doubling down in General Manager J.J. Gottsch’s world, knowing the front office executive came to win.

And do everything he could to position his team for a sincere shot at the largest gold buckle in Western sports.

Naturally, the tagline started to stick after the team acquired Muleshoe, Texas, native Dalton Kasel from the Kansas City Outlaws near the end of the inaugural season of camaraderie-based competition.

However, when the squad added the 2018 PBR World Champion Kaique Pacheco to the mix ahead of the tour’s third series of big celebrations and even RANKER rides solidified the team’s idea of truly being “All In” on a Championship run.

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In a league where, for the most part, you get five chances to out-perform the cowboy and animal athlete directly across the chutes, having several UTB stars, if not World Champions, is going to do the trick.

Especially when your team rosters a two-time PBR World Champion and two-time PBR Teams MVP in Jose Vitor Leme, who very much played a role for the green and black contingent throughout the four-month campaign.

However, it was the way Leme stepped up in Sin City last fall which ultimately got his group over the hump.

Eventually beating out the trendy Carolina Cowboys 357.5-252.5, one of the hottest teams on tour throughout the 2024 season, Leme and friends rightfully claimed what was theirs!

So, as we prepare to learn more about teams heading into respective training camp and ramp-up sessions ahead of the fourth season of PBR Camping World Team Series action, with the season officially kicking off July 11-13 during Wildcatter Days in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, we’re taking a trip down memory lane as we celebrate the Gamblers’ successful finale inside T-Mobile Arena.

Today, PBR.com’s From the Vault series looks back on the 5-on-5 landscape’s most recent Champions to win BIG inside T-Mobile Arena.

Austin Gamblers parlay 4-for-5 effort into second-straight Championship Sunday appearance

LAS VEGAS – It hasn’t been a perfect season for the Austin Gamblers.

But you’d be hard pressed to find a Champion at the end of any competitive playoff slate who hasn’t endured its ups and downs at some point.

Especially in the PBR Camping World Team Series, where parity has been infectious throughout the third season of 5-on-5 action.

And in a season where the two-time regular season Champion Austin Gamblers turned in an uncharacteristic 13-15 slate, they were one of the teams competing Saturday night who weren’t afraid of leaving that part of their summer in the rearview, instead building on what could be.

“The mission is the same and you’ll hear this from every team, but you’ve gotta ride your bulls. I never want to make excuses but we’ve had a funky year and we’ve had some bad calls not go our way. And that’s why I’m so thrilled for our guys pulling through it all,” Head Coach Michael Gaffney shared.

“There was a time there where we were almost searching for some things in our riding to change and I said ‘Look, step back a little bit. We have to make sure we’re not trying to manifest something that’s not there. There is nothing there, you guys are trying your asses off and as long as you’re doing that, we’ll come out of this.' And they proved that.”

After going a combined 2-for-10 Friday night, including a 1-for-5 effort during a loss to the Missouri Thunder, before eventually punching their ticket to Round 2 via an unideal, yet round-topping 1-for-5 effort in Last Chance Game, a completely different Gamblers squad showed up inside T-Mobile Arena Saturday evening.

“To be able to make it through that cloud … It’s easy to hang your head when you have to go back to that Last Chance and you know it’s your last chance, do or die,” he added.

“To make it through that foggy, cloudy moment is tough. It’ll test your resolve and I think we proved that last night with Kaique’s (Pacheco) great ride and to be able to refocus and carry our team to the finish was great. We only got one bull ridden but it was enough and we’ll take it.”

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Austin Gamblers win 2024 PBR Teams Championship

LAS VEGAS – The Austin Gamblers, nearly perfect in two high-pressure playoff games on Sunday, were crowned the 2024 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Teams Champions Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, going 9-for-10 on the day, including a torrid 4-for-5 in the elimination tournament’s final game to defeat the Carolina Cowboys by 105 points, 357.5-252.5.

During the third iteration of the bull riding league’s postseason tournament, inclusive of the Ride-In Round, the competing riders went 67-for-146, covering a torrid 45.89% of their animal athlete opponents. The Gamblers led all teams, going 15-for-24 (62.5%), including on Championship Sunday the team’s first perfect game and the league’s sixth.

In the ride putting the Gamblers ahead for the final time in the Championship Game, Dalton Kasel registered the high-marked score of the tournament when dominating Always Been Crazy for a mammoth 92 points in the fourth frame.

Austin reached the Championship Game for the second consecutive season in historic fashion. In the semifinals, the No. 5 Gamblers upset the No. 1 Kansas City Outlaws by 75.25 points, 432.75-357.5, the only perfect game during the league’s 2024 Championship event.

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Gamblers complete “all in” run after acquiring all-star Kaique Pacheco

LAS VEGAS – Seeing the final day of 2024 PBR Teams Championship action start with five consecutive qualified rides meant the crowd inside T-Mobile Arena was engaged early and often.

However, it was how the afternoon slate ended which will forever be engrained in PBR Teams history, as the Austin Gamblers concluded the epic season-culminating showcase by being crowned the 2024 PBR Teams Champions.

Once the Third Place Game came to a conclusion, the final contest of the season featured its own spicy start, witnessing four qualified rides to begin the action-packed Championship Game.

Which makes ton of sense, as the Gamblers were coming off a stunning perfect game performance and the Carolina Cowboys were bringing some endgame momentum of their own into the duel.

The rider to truly get the party started for the eventual tournament-topping contingent?

2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco – the very man Austin went “all in” for some six months ago.

Leading the way with an electric 88-pointer aboard Ah Hell, he improved to a stunning 4-for-5 on the weekend as he reminded fans of his championship-caliber skillset.

Setting his Gamblers up in favorable position early, the all-star donned his “Ice Man” personality once more, absolutely freezing out the competition to put an icy cap on his star-studded performance.

All while justifying his team’s itch to acquire another star ahead of what became the franchise’s first-ever championship-earning campaign.

Director of Brazil Operations Adriano Moraes shared hugs or celebrations of some sort with each of his men that made the 8 Sunday, often times either running out onto the dirt or congratulating them once they arrived back atop the chutes.

When PBR.com talked to Moraes at the 2024 PBR World Finals, he seemed confident Pacheco was the perfect puzzle piece they needed. And … well, the three-time World Champion sure was right.

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Top 8 takeaways from 2024 PBR Teams Championship

FORT WORTH, Texas – From South Point Arena to T-Mobile Arena, the PBR Camping World Team Series invaded Sin City for five epic nights of camaraderie-driven action. And while most of the tour’s riders, partners, workers and beyond are waking up in their own homes for the first time Tuesday morning, there’s a part of us that wouldn’t mind running it back this weekend.

Which shares a bit of sentiment about how much the PBR Teams landscape has come to mean to fans are the world. At the same time, lends an idea to how ELECTRIC last weekend’s set of events truly were.

Surprises everywhere we looked, nobody was counting the No. 5 Austin Gamblers out of contention by any means.

But in a season where the likes of John Crimber, Cassio Dias, Brady Fielder and friends sat atop the headlines as some of the hottest guys on tour, it was Dalton Kasel who recorded the highest-scored ride of the weekend.

Teaming up with Jose Vitor Leme, Kaique Pacheco, Ramon de Lima and Lucas Divino to get the job done, it was the Austin Gamblers who prevailed as the 2024 PBR Teams Champions.

Spicy stars and rank rides everywhere we looked, it would be simple to say tens of thousands of fans from around the world. So, instead, we’ll dig into eight of the biggest reasons why we believe the 2024 PBR Teams Championship will always be one to remember!

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Fans can stay tuned to PBR.com and @PBR social media channels throughout the offseason build-up as we continue to usher in the approaching 2025 PBR Camping World Team Series season!  

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media