The bulls are getting rank. The coaches are getting crafty. The general managers are working the phones. And somewhere, a rookie is learning that “welcome to PBR Teams” usually comes with a hotel key, a scouting report and a bull with a bad attitude.
The 2026 PBR Teams season is almost here, and this one already has a little extra dust on it.
It could be the final season with only 10 teams. The Oklahoma Wildcatters have a new head coach in Greg Rhodes, the first PBR Teams head coach to come directly from the college ranks. Trades are in the works. Andrew Alvidrez will no longer don the red and yellow for the Missouri Thunder. A wave of PRCA cowboys were drafted, bringing with them one big question: what exactly have they been missing? For riders crossing into the PBR Teams arena, the 2026 season offers a first real look at a league built on locker-room energy, head-to-head pressure and a regular-season grind unlike anything else in Western sports.
And while training camps are currently underway, the hunt for the “BIG buckle” in November at the 2026 PBR Teams Championship in Las Vegas has already begun.
The Carolina Cowboys are trying to go back-to-back. Everyone else is trying to make sure they don’t. Will Kansas City take another champagne shower at center stage inside T-Mobile Arena, or will a new team turn Vegas into a season-defining celebration?
The answers start coming July 11-12 in Fort Collins, Colorado, when the 2026 season kicks off with PBR Bulls and Beats: PBR Teams at Canvas Stadium.
Back in the day there was only one rule in bull riding being ride the beast for eight seconds, now the rulebook weighs in at 110 pages and 49,415 words so before the gate cracks, the rulebook deserves its own scouting report.
New in 2026:
Each team can carry a Reserve Roster of up to three additional riders from June 3 through Nov. 16, 2026, which is down from five in 2025 in order to spice up the unrestricted free agency pool.
Teams are not required to fill those spots, but the option gives front offices another place to stash depth, develop talent and keep reinforcements close when the season starts throwing elbows, or breaking them. Reserve Riders can come from a few different lanes: riders dropped from a Protected Roster; selected in the 2026 Draft; or signed through Free Agency as unrestricted free agents.
Translation: the bench just got a little deeper, and the roster math just got a little more western.
During the 2025 season 109 riders took at least one out over 175 regular season games, so Reserve Riders are not just a name on a spreadsheet somewhere between “future plans” and “break glass in case of injury.”
Reserve Riders can participate in team training and marketing activities, and they can also be selected to compete in PBR Teams and/or PBR Challenger Series events. If they do ride in Team Series events, they are compensated by PBR based on appearances and results, as outlined in the league’s 2026 minimum compensation memo.
So yes, they may be reserves. But they can still be in the locker room, in the content shoot, in the practice pen and, when needed, behind the bucking chute with a rope in hand.
Reserve Riders may quit their team at any time by notifying the League Office through both email and a call — unless the Document of Intent process is already underway for that rider’s potential Protected Roster signing.
However, it’s all about rhythm and timing.
If a Reserve Rider quits before Oct. 22, 2026, he becomes an unrestricted free agent. However, he cannot ride for another team during the next event, even if he signs to a Protected Roster spot with a new team.
If he quits after the Oct. 22 Roster Lock Deadline, that’s it. He is ineligible to compete for the remainder of the 2026 PBR Teams season.
In other words, the door is open. But late in the year, it starts to swing shut fast.
The Document of Intent process is back, and it remains one of the easiest ways for roster drama to go from “rumor” to “send the paperwork.”
If a team reaches a verbal agreement with a Reserve Rider from another team, the requesting team must submit a completed DOI to the rider’s current team and the League Office. That document has to include the financial and key terms of the offer, including any proposed Protected Roster agreement.
For 2026, the DOI period begins Sunday, July 12 and closes Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. CT, except for Draft Designees as outlined elsewhere in the rulebook. Wait, the DOI period ends 13 days after the Oct. 14 trade deadline?
You read that right.
The final two DOI windows on Oct. 18 and Oct. 25 should make for some serious rider rustling as teams take one last look at their playoff rosters, their reserve options and whatever late-season chess pieces are still left on the board.
Teams only get one offer per rider per week, and DOIs can only be put into motion on Sundays of event weeks. If there were no games that weekend, there is no DOI window.
So no, a team cannot wake up on a random Wednesday, decide it needs a left-handed Brazilian with magical feet, and start throwing paperwork across the league.
Once the DOI window opens, everybody better have their email, phone and calculator ready.
A completed DOI must be submitted between 6 p.m. CT Sunday and 6 p.m. CT Monday of an event week for that rider to be eligible to join the requesting team and compete in the upcoming event.
But before the window opens at 6 p.m. CT Sunday, the current team can submit a roster transaction form to promote one of its own Reserve Riders to the Protected Roster. If approved, that move makes the rider ineligible for the DOI process… with one catch.
The team must keep that promoted rider on the Protected Roster for at least one event. It cannot promote him just to block another team, then drop him as soon as the paperclips settle.
If another team comes calling for a Reserve Rider, the current team still gets a chance to keep him.
To retain the rider, the current team must elevate him to the Protected Roster and match or better the financial terms of the requesting team’s offer. That includes both the pay and the structure of any performance incentives.
If the current team matches or beats the offer, the rider stays put.
If the current team does not match or better it, the rider can sign with the requesting team, as long as that team has, or immediately creates, an open Protected Roster spot. The rider can also choose to remain on his current team’s Reserve Roster.
If there is any dispute over whether one offer truly matches or beats another, the League Office makes the final call.
Once a Reserve Rider is signed to a Protected Roster, teams cannot immediately hit undo.
If the current team promotes its own Reserve Rider to the Protected Roster, that rider must stay there for at least one event and must be on the active event roster. He does not have to be in the Starting Lineup, but he must be in the event city and eligible to be placed in a game.
If the requesting team signs a Reserve Rider through the DOI process, that team must keep him on either its Protected Roster or Reserve Roster for at least four events.
So if you go steal another team’s reserve, you better mean it. This is not a one-week jet ski rental with a hat and a handshake.
The Excused Absence List remains one of the most important behind-the-scenes roster tools in a sport where real life, travel and international paperwork can buck just as hard as the livestock.
A rider can be placed on the Excused Absence List if he declares partial-season eligibility on his Draft Declaration or receives approval from both the League Office and his team to step away for unique circumstances. That could include travel issues, a wedding, the birth of a child, bereavement or competing in another PBR event.
That last piece could matter this season, especially with so many PRCA cowboys drafted. The talent is there. The question is how many Teams weekends can they make while juggling another rodeo road map?
Once a rider is eligible to come off the Excused Absence List, the team has 24 hours to place him on the roster as Protected, Reserve or Injured Reserve. Any IR move in that situation will be closely reviewed by the League Office.
In general, teams cannot simply drop a rider the moment he comes off the list. They can petition the League Office for special consideration, but the rule is designed to keep the list from becoming a backdoor release button.
International riders have helped define PBR Teams from the start, and the 2026 rulebook gives teams clearer rules around visa-related roster issues.
Up to three drafted riders in the 2026 Draft can be placed on the Excused Absence List if they do not have a P-1 visa by July 6, 2026. Teams may also place one existing roster rider on the list if that rider’s P-1 visa expires during the Regular Season or Championship and cannot be renewed before it expires.
If a team is not using all four possible visa-related Excused Absence List spots, it may assign one unrestricted free agent to that list, but only if the team is actively assisting in the visa process and ultimately footing the bill for the P-1.
The League Office can require teams to prove they are actively working on the visa process. If the league does not believe a team is engaged, it can require the rider to be removed from the list and placed on the roster, or it can declare the rider an unrestricted free agent.
No using paperwork as a holding pen for international talent.
The 2026 rulebook also cleans up how several major rider awards will be decided.
The PBR Teams Series Regular Season MVP will go to the rider with the highest aggregate ride score across all regular-season events, with a minimum of 20 outs.
The Championship MVP will go to the rider with the highest aggregate ride score across all Championship games.
The Great 8 winner will be the rider with the highest riding percentage across all regular-season events, also with a minimum of 20 outs.
New this season is the Rookie of the Year which will go to the rookie with the highest aggregate ride score across the Regular Season, with a minimum of 20 outs. To be eligible, a rider must either have never competed in PBR Teams before or have competed previously with fewer than 10 total outs.
If there is a tie for any award, the individual cash prize will be split equally.
The 2026 PBR Teams rulebook gives teams more room to maneuver, but it also gives them more ways to get exposed if they miss a deadline, misread the market or gamble on the wrong rider.
Reserve Rosters make depth more valuable. The DOI process gives rival teams a path to poach talent. The Excused Absence and visa rules add structure to some of the messiest roster questions. And with trades already in the works, new coaches stepping in, drafted rodeo cowboys testing the Teams waters and Carolina defending the crown, this season is already starting to feel like a chute gate rattling before the nod.
The chase to Las Vegas begins July 11-12 in Fort Collins.
By November, somebody will leave with a gold buckle. Somebody will get the end of year hardware.
And somebody, somewhere, will be wishing they had read the rulebook a little closer.
Photo courtesy of PBR social