Big Sky PBR at 15: From hay bales to sold-out crowds

By Carli Johnson and Fischer Genau

Editor’s note: Explore Big Sky is published by Outlaw Partners, the producer of Big Sky PBR.

As the third day of the Big Sky PBR drew to a close on the night of Saturday, July 18, the bull riders looked unstoppable. Seven out of 12 made it past eight seconds in the championship round, and the fans grew louder and louder with each successful ride. By the time Ezekiel Mitchell, the 29-year old Texan riding for the Texas Rattlers, straddled his bull in the bucking chute, the crowd had reached a fever pitch. Despite a storm delay that had cleared the bleachers and set the night back an hour, the arena was still packed at 10:30 p.m. Most of the spectators had been on their feet for hours, and as Mitchell’s chute burst open, they watched to see if the hot streak would continue. 

The bull Tulsa Time leapt into the air before clearing the gate, slamming Mitchell against the metal bars behind him. He managed to hang on, and as the clock ticked towards eight, the crowd began to cheer. Mitchell’s fellow bull riders amassed on the bucking chutes hooted and hollered, cheering him on from above, and when the buzzer finally sounded, the stadium erupted. Mitchell walked off the dirt grinning from ear to ear as his score was announced over the loudspeaker: 93 points.

After the competition was over, Cord McCoy, a rodeo stock contractor, said that it was “probably the best championship round that I’ve ever seen.” 

While Mitchell had a thrilling last ride, it was Kade Madsen that left Big Sky a champion after dominating the weekend. The 21-year-old from Utah was the only person to ride all four of his bulls, earning himself $35,942 along with a custom Gibson guitar, Montana Silversmith belt buckle and trip to Turks and Caicos. Madsen won the Big Sky PBR in 2023, and his win this year makes him the only rider to win multiple events in Big Sky. 

“It was life changing in my career at that point and it’s life changing now,” Madsen said while accepting his check. “I just feel very blessed.” 

In 2024 and 2025, Madsen took a break from bull riding to serve a mission in Tennessee. He rejoined the PBR circuit in December of 2025, and his win in Big Sky cements an impressive return to the sport.

“I was really looking forward to coming back here,” Madsen said. “The two years leading up to this, I’ve just been dreaming about the crowd back in 2023, and it didn’t disappoint.”

This year’s Big Sky PBR also raised over $800,000 for charitable causes. On Thursday, the Epilepsy Foundation of Montana accepted a check for $119,500, and on Friday’s Montana State University Bobcat night, Big Sky PBR brought in $150,000 to the Western Sports Foundation and another $180,000 to MSU Athletics. On the third and final night, Big Sky Bravery and Warriors and Quiet Waters both received checks for $119,750.

In addition to bull riding, the event also featured two bullfighters each night, an addition for 2026. During the championship round, Bryce Burr and Clay Moore took to the dirt to face off with a bull, sprinting and leaping around the arena and staying just out of reach of the bull’s horns and pounding hooves.

“It feels like I’m living a dream you guys,” Eric Ladd, founder and CEO of Outlaw Partners, producer of the event, told Saturday’s crowd. “I’m so grateful for everybody out there. You witnessed history, you helped create it.”

This past weekend will be recorded as a memorable chapter in the Big Sky PBR’s now 15-year-long story.

Fifteen years in the making

As the last bull left the arena on Saturday night, and crews began dismantling the bull pens, as a crowd of nearly 2,000 filtered out of the stands abuzz with the energy of that championship round, the weekend appeared as another successful chapter in what has become one of Big Sky’s signature summer traditions.

But 15 years ago, it looked a little different.

Before the sold-out crowds, national sponsors and internationally recognized riders, there was a bulldozed sagebrush field in Big Sky Town Center. There were flatbed trucks hauling temporary bleachers and hay bales filling in the gaps, and local whitewater outfitters parking buses around the arena so spectators could climb on top for a better view.

Organizers walked the town handing out free tickets, hoping enough people would show up.

“We knew once people saw it, they would love it,” Megan Paulson, co-founder and CMO and co-founder of Outlaw Partners, said.

What started as a single night of professional bull riding has steadily transformed into a three-day event that draws visitors from across the country while becoming one of the Professional Bull Riders circuit’s premier summer stops, voted PBR’s Event of the Year for 12 years in a row.

“It’s really created a signature summer event that has anchored Big Sky,” Paulson said. “That’s really why we first started this, to find something that encouraged people to stop in Big Sky in the summer.”

Today, about 70% of attendees travel from outside Montana, according to Paulson. Nearly all of the event’s sponsors return each year, with a 95% retention rate and many partnerships span a decade.

The inaugural event featured only 11 sponsors and one night of competition. When organizers expanded to a second night, then eventually a third, there was uncertainty whether demand would keep pace.

“When we made the transition to three nights and it still sold out really quickly, that’s when we realized the demand was there,” Paulson said. “When we took the risk to add another day and we saw it pay off, that gave us the momentum to turn it into what it is today.”

Since then, the event has continued evolving. Larger bleachers replaced temporary seating, afterparty concerts became part of the experience, VIP hospitality expanded, and a weeks’ worth of events now lead up to the event itself.

Yet for many of the people who have been around since the beginning, the memories that stand out most aren’t necessarily the biggest moments, but the unexpected ones.

For longtime auctioneer Pat Busby, one of those came several years ago when heavy rain interrupted Calcutta. At the time, the auction was still held beneath the VIP tent.

“I told Andy, ‘Put me in the middle of the arena and I’ll turn this place upside down,'” Busby recalled with a laugh. “Afterwards, he said, ‘Get ready, you’ll be doing this in the arena from here on out.’”

Busby’s words proved true–once an opening act, the Calcutta became part of the arena show itself, adding another layer of entertainment before the night’s competition.

Another unforgettable moment came in 2022, when one bull famously escaped arena fencing before being recovered–by cowboys, of course–near the Big Sky Fire Department.

Rodeo entertainer Flint Rasmussen has watched the transformation from the arena’s dirt, remembering when Big Sky PBR was only a single-night stop.

Several years ago, he recalls spectators watching from the roofs of nearby condominiums overlooking the arena.

“I started making fun of them for not buying a ticket,” Rasmussen recalled. “I ran over there and a woman gestured me inside. I ended up on the roof with those people and my microphone. It really exemplified how I love to bring people into the show, even if they’re on the roof.”

Rasmussen retired from full-time rodeo entertainment in 2023, shifting into broadcasting after decades as one of the sport’s most recognizable entertainers. But Big Sky continues to draw him back.

“In 2023, I thought this would be the last place I ever performed in an arena,” he said ahead of the third night of this year’s PBR. “My mind, body and heart were tired. Here I am, three years later… and I’m going to be on the dirt again tonight.”

As Big Sky has changed, he believes the audience has changed with it.

“The shift really happened when I could see Big Sky growing as a summer destination,” he said. It’s also turned many attendees into “true fans” of the sport, he said.

Scissorbills Saloon owner Michelle Clark-Conley has watched the event from its earliest days. She worked as a raft guide with Geyser Whitewater Expeditions—the same outfitter that parked buses beside the arena to create extra seating during those first few years.

“It was a much smaller rodeo then, but everything in Big Sky was smaller then,” she said. “I feel like PBR has grown with the town.”

For 15 summers, crews have transformed an empty field into the event of the summer, welcoming thousands of fans for three days, eager to watch that one unforgettable eight second ride that often remains in memory for a lifetime.