Professional Bull Riders secures multi-year partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev

The Professional Bull Riders (PBR), a prominent international bull riding circuit based in the US, has unveiled a multi-year partnership with global brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev ahead of the 2024 season.

This alliance, with a focus on AB InBev’s light beer brand Michelob Ultra, designates the brewing company as the official and exclusive beer sponsor for PBR across the circuit’s individual competitions, Teams League and expansion tours.

As part of this comprehensive deal, AB InBev will leverage various assets, including featuring the PBR logo on packaging and in retail promotions, prominent arena signage visible on television broadcasts, customised content on PBR digital channels and exclusive hospitality areas at PBR events.

An upshot for PBR is that it will now be able to enhance prize money for winners in the 21+ category at Unleash The Beast events and each Event MVP Teams League through the introduction of the Michelob Ultra Bonus.

This announcement closely follows AB InBev’s sponsorship deal with the South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL, making Michelob Ultra the official global beer of the 2024 Copa America national teams competition.

AB InBev’s expanding sports sponsorship portfolio includes partnerships with major entities such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), FIFA, the NFL’s Washington Commanders and the Wimbledon grand slam tennis tournament.

PBR is set to kick off its 2024 season with the Unleash The Beast Buck Off at Madison Square Garden on January 5. Last year, PBR expanded its global reach by launching a dedicated channel on the sports streaming platform Recast, providing international fans access to over 160 events annually, including elite individual competitions, the Challenger Series, emerging talent tours and the Team Series competition introduced in the previous year.

PBR’s streaming service, RidePass, is exclusively available on the US-based Pluto TV, a free-to-view video streaming platform, both as a linear channel and on-demand. In Canada, broadcasting rights for the series are held by pay-TV broadcaster TSN.