PBR Chair & CEO Jim Haworth said that thinking “outside the chute is how his organization needs to do business in the Twitter-Facebook-YouTube age if it hopes to continue to grow its fan base,” according to Steve Carp of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. Haworth: "Somebody suggested we do a weigh-in with the bulls, and since Las Vegas is the fight capital of the world, it made sense. We can't be afraid to try different things." Carp notes the bulls entered in this week's World Finals at the Thomas & Mack Center were weighed as a “couple of hundred people” looked on. Haworth is “dedicated to growing the sport internationally,” as he wants to take the bulls “to China, to Australia, to Japan, to Europe and to other North American markets.” Selling out Madison Square Garden for three consecutive nights in early January "is nice,” but a week in Beijing, Sydney or Tokyo “is better.” Haworth said, "You want to reach your maximum potential. We happen to be in the entertainment business. Why limit ourselves?" Carp notes the PBR runs tours in five countries, with "more than 100 events and $10 million in annual prize money.” But it is the Built Ford Tough Series that is its "biggest and most visible event.” Traditionalists "think Haworth and the PBR are overdoing it.” They think there are “too many events, which means the riders have more opportunities of getting injured and not making it” to the World Finals. But Haworth counters that the series “gives riders more opportunities to make money, and the overwhelming majority of the top riders do make it” to the Finals. Haworth: "Look, you're never going to please everybody. But we're not going to jeopardize the safety of the riders or the bulls. We want to make our sport appealing to everyone" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 10/24).
