BILLINGS — After more than 30 years of showtime inside First Interstate Arena, the PBR’s elite series is bucking off the city that helped launch it.
The PBR announced its 2027 Unleash The Beast schedule on Wednesday and Billings was noticeably absent from the 18 events.
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"Folks who are used to it, who have been coming here for 30-plus years — it was one of the original stops when the cowboys actually created the PBR — it's pretty tough to swallow," MetraPark general manager Stoney Field told MTN Sports. "I don't believe that it's anything that there's going to be able to negotiate. It feels like the PBR, as a corporate entity now with TKO, there's really no maneuvering."
"I personally don't know how much the Metra, how much Billings, how much anybody here really could have done to change their minds," said Casey Conlon, sports tourism director for Visit Billings. "You look at what the PBR has said about they're going into larger venues, specifically in places that have a large population base around them. I just don't know how much could have been done to change their minds."
While the superstars of the Unleash The Beast Tour won’t be making a stop in the Magic City, that’s not to say the PBR is disappearing completely.
"Billings will host a Velocity Tour event beginning in April 2027," PBR spokesperson Andrew Giangola told MTN. "Billings has been an important part of PBR for decades, and this shift from an Unleash The Beast event to the Velocity Tour reflects the organization’s broader scheduling strategy rather than a change in how the market is viewed. The city remains very important to us, and fans there will have the opportunity to see top PBR competition through the Velocity Tour next April."
Riders compete through the Velocity Tour to earn their status on the Unleash The Beast series.
“If we want to continue to call ourselves a rodeo town, right, if we are smack dab in a place that loves the western way of life, you come out and you support big-time rodeo and bull riding events," Conlon said. "OK, it's not the elite tour anymore. But these are, theoretically, the best up-and-coming bull riders that are going to the PBR. Some of these guys that are the top guys on the PBR tour right now came from the Velocity Tour."
While Billings disappears from the premier event schedule, the PBR is adding stops in Los Angeles and St. Louis as they search out larger markets.
The longest running stop on the PBR’s premier tour comes to a grinding halt after 31 years in Billings.
