The PBR World Finals kick-off in Fort Worth at Dickies Arena Friday night.
Dickies Arena will host the event for its 30th anniversary beginning May 12 which runs through May 21.
Known as the richest bull riding event in the world features a purse of more than $2.7 million.
Fort Worth, the site of PBR's first-ever event in April 1993, won by Texan and PBR co-founder Cody Lambert, now comes full circle to host the historic 30th PBR World Finals.
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As the 2023 PBR World Finals Week brings nearly two weeks of non-stop Western lifestyle programming to the region, the event will take over Dickies Arena May 12-14 with Rounds 1-3, followed by Rounds 4-7 and the Championship Round on May 18-21.
Throughout the seven days, 40 of the world's best bull riders will duke it out through eight rounds of competition
In a highly competitive season in which six riders have risen to the No. 1 rank, Kaique Pacheco, who concluded the 23-event regular season ranked first, leads No. 2 Jose Vitor Leme by 74 points.
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Pacheco, however, will not compete due to injury, opening the door for the remainder of the field to contend for the gold buckle. The world's Top 10 are within less than 500 points of one another, and 10 riders this year qualified for their first World Finals - two in the Top 10.
The Top 10 also features a strong Texas presence with five riders ranked inside the threshold hailing from the Lone Star State: No. 3 Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe), No. 4 Cooper Davis (Jasper), No. 6 Andrew Alvidrez (Seminole), No. 7 Boudreaux Campbell (Crockett) and No. 10 Daniel Keeping (Montague).
Should any of these contenders be crowned the 2023 PBR World Champion they would become the first Texan since Davis in 2016 to earn the coveted gold buckle.
Alongside the riders, who will be vying for the 2023 PBR World Championship, the PBR's fiercest bulls will also be competing for the 2023 YETI PBR World Champion Bull honor and accompanying $100,000 bonus.
The field is led by powerhouse No. 1 Cool Whip, who is chasing his first YETI PBR World Championship after being crowned the 2022 ABBI Classic World Champion. Cool Whip leads No. 2 Ridin Solo by 0.41 points as the Oklahoma-raised bovine attempts to make a come-from-behind surge and become just the sixth back-to-back PBR World Champion bull in the organization's history.
