Bull riders are converging on OG&E Coliseum this Friday and Saturday as the Oklahoma Wildcatters host Wildcatters vs. The World, a two-night PBR showdown set against the backdrop of the Oklahoma State Fair. Each night's competition starts at 7 p.m., and the ticket that gets fans in the door also covers same-day admission to the fairgrounds.
The championship weekend runs Sept. 24 through Sept. 26, according to the Oklahoma Wildcatters' official event page, with the Friday and Saturday nights built around a head-to-head format pitting the hometown Wildcatters against a field of outside qualifiers competing as The World. Official tickets are being sold through Etix, per the same event listing.
As reported by News 9, the event is a PBR Challenger Series competition organized by the Oklahoma Wildcatters, featuring one long round followed by a short round. The two accounts differ on the field size: News 9, citing rider Kase Hitt, describes the event as featuring 35 of the top bull riders in the world, while the Wildcatters' own event page says all 40 riders compete in Round 1. The discrepancy has not been resolved between the two sources.
How The Showdown Format Works
Per the official event page, the seven highest-scoring non-Wildcatter riders from that opening round advance and become The World for the night's showdown. That sets up a 14-ride finale: seven rides from The World riders and seven from the Wildcatters, going head-to-head for the night's outcome.
News 9's reporting frames the qualifying round similarly, noting that the riders compete for a spot in the short round, which then includes seven Oklahoma Wildcatters riders alongside the top seven qualifiers. The station spoke with Hitt, who is from Dixon, Oklahoma, and rider Cort McFadden ahead of the weekend.
A Hometown Ride For Kase Hitt
Hitt told the station that having family and friends in the stands near his home means a great deal to him. McFadden, for his part, offered his own take on rider psychology, telling News 9 that bull riders get nervous, and that nervousness can actually improve their riding.
McFadden also had a request for the fans filling OG&E Coliseum: yell, scream, get active, and create a rowdy crowd, he told the station. It is the kind of atmosphere organizers are clearly counting on to fuel both nights of competition.
Part Of A Bigger PBR Push
Wildcatters vs. The World fits into the broader PBR Challenger Series, a competition tier that PBR.com says launched in May 2022 and ran through November of that year, spanning more than 60 events across 27 states. The series was designed as a proving ground offering additional competitive opportunities for riders both affiliated and unaffiliated with PBR Team Series teams, according to the same announcement.
That first Challenger Series season funneled its top 40 riders in the standings into a Challenger Championship in Las Vegas on Nov. 3, 2022, with PBR CEO and Commissioner Sean Gleason saying at the time that top finishers could earn spots in the following year's Unleash The Beast season events. In 2022, the Challenger Series spanned 27 states.
For Oklahoma City fans, though, the action is close to home this weekend, with two nights of bull riding unfolding right alongside the sights and sounds of the State Fair.
