The 2026 PBR Teams season got a brief preview three weeks ago, when every team played two outdoor games on the campus of Colorado State University ahead of the traditional homestand schedule.

Now, the season begins in earnest this weekend in Oklahoma City, the first stop in a stretch of 11 PBR Teams weekends over the next 13 weeks. By the end of the regular season, each team will have played 33 games.

With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about all 10 teams: how they finished in 2025, how much production they return, the new faces to know, what to expect in 2026, and more. It all leads to Las Vegas for the PBR Teams World Championship Nov. 6-8.

Dive in below…

Arizona Ridge Riders

2025 Record: 22-13 (4th in regular season, lost in Semifinals)

The Ridge Riders retained their core from their best season in franchise history in 2025. They ripped off a total of 22 wins and return their Top 3 riders, Everton Natan Da Silva, Luciano De Castro, and Eduardo Aparecido. They all finished Top 15 in the PBR Teams MVP race a year ago. They are poised to have De Castro and Aparecido lead off their games, and they provide a great 1-2 punch. Aparecido’s 64 qualified rides are third-most in PBR Teams history while the Ridge Riders were 17-3 when De Castro made the whistle in 2025.

It’s not all sunshine for the team that calls Arizona home, though. They lost closer Keyshawn Whitehorse to the Carolina Cowboys in free agency and Riquelmi Silva, who tore up PBR Brazil in 2025, is now riding for the Nashville Stampede. Those two combined for 21 of the team’s 82 qualified rides a season ago.

They added six riders to their roster this offseason, three of whom are new to the Team Series. Their biggest addition was Elizmar Jeremias, who ranked 40th last season with seven qualified rides for the Florida Freedom. Jeremias’ average score last season was 86.71, which was nearly a full point better than anyone else on the Ridge Riders’ roster.

Last season, the Ridge Riders relied on heating up quickly. They were one of only two teams last season to cover 11-of-15 bulls at an event, doing so at Anaheim. They ranked third in 9+ ride weekends (3) and 8+ ride weekends (5), and finished the season with the third-most aggregate points with 6998.75.

Potential Breakout Star: Elizmar Jeremias – In his first weekend with the Ridge Riders at PBR Bulls and Beats on July 11 and 12, he went 2-for-2 and made his second career 90+ point ride. Jeremias missed a majority of the UTB Season due to injury, but the 29-year-old has ridden 43 percent in his Teams career.

Austin Gamblers

2025 Record: 24-11 (2nd in regular season, lost in quarterfinals)

For basically their entire history, the top riders and starting lineup of a fully healthy Austin Gamblers team has looked the exact same. There’s no reason to believe 2026 will be any different as Dalton Kasel, Sage Kimzey, Kaique Pacheco, and Jose Vitor Leme, who took his free agency late into the summer, are all back.

Kasel and Kimzey have both finished Top 10 individually in the last three UTB and Teams season, Pacheco has over 400 qualified rides at the PBR’s top level, and ranks sixth all-time on the money list. And Leme, of course, boasts three World Titles, two PBR Teams MVP, and a PBR record of more than $8 million earned.

Overall, they retained their Top 7 riders from the 2025 team and only made one addition, Jesse Petri, who made the National Finals Rodeo in 2025 and last rode in PBR Teams in 2024.

However, despite finishing the season leading the league in event wins (4), the most 9+ ride weekends (5), and the second-most aggregate points with 7728.75, the Gamblers fell short last season, getting bounced out of the World Championship on Day 2 by the eventual World Champion Carolina Cowboys.

Regardless, the Gamblers enter the 2026 season with one of the most consistent and star-studded rosters of any team and will undoubtedly be a contender to return to the top of the mountain like they did in 2024.

Stat to Know: The Gamblers lost the least production from 2025, with only five outs coming from riders who are no longer on the team.

Carolina Cowboys

2025 Record: 19-16 (5th in regular season, won Championship)

The Carolina Cowboys finished fifth in the regular season last year, but wound up the 2025 PBR Team Series World Champions.

The 19-11 Cowboys without winning an event and had just two weekends where they covered more than seven bulls. They had just one rider ranked in the Top 24 last season, Clay Guiton, who finished fourth in the MVP rankings.

But great teams, World Championship teams, they peak at the right time. That’s exactly what the Cowboys did last October. They rolled the Stampede with a perfect game in Round 1 and then bested the defending champion Austin Gamblers in the quarterfinals. They rode three bulls in both their Semifinal win over the Ridge Riders and Finals victory against the Thunder with Guiton winning PBR Teams Championship MVP.

Blessed with newfound success, the Cowboys kept their foot on the pedal this offseason and added seven riders to their roster, most notably Thiago Salgado, Keyshawn Whitehorse, and Guilherme Valleiras. That trio combined for 45 qualified rides last season, 24 of which came from Salgado, who finished third in the MVP rankings.

Without fan favorites Cooper Davis and Daylon Swearingen, the Cowboys will be revamping much of their roster. They lost a league-most 26 qualified rides worth of talent spread amongst eight riders, though seven of whom finished 50th or worse last season.

While the Cowboys will miss Davis and Swearingen, the team netted a league-best 19 qualified rides worth of talent and are one of just two teams to have gained more total qualified rides than they lost in the offseason.

Roster Moves: The Cowboys had one of the most interesting offseasons PBR Teams history. Making a deal with Keyshawn Whitehorse was one of the biggest free agency moves in the league’s history to date and not many teams would be willing to let a long-time fixture like Swearingen go. They’ve replaced talent with talent in a manner not often seen in PBR Teams.

Florida Freedom

2025 Record: 25-10 (Regular season champions, lost in quarterfinals)

The Freedom left the 2025 PBR Teams season with a bad, bad taste in their mouths. Despite having more wins and aggregate points than any team during the regular season, they failed to make it to Day 3 of the World Championship, losing to the eventual runner-up Missouri Thunder and then failing to qualify out of their Last Chance match.

That’s the playoffs in any sport, in one day, everything you worked for can be lost.

The Freedom will likely be reminding themselves of their incredible regular going into 2026 to get their mojo back.

They were led by John Crimber, who earned his second straight PBR Teams MVP last year. There’s not reason to believe the 20-year-old standout won’t be in the mix once again, he is coming off of his first UTB World Title in the spring and has ridden 70 percent of his bulls in his PBR Teams career.

Crimber returns, but on the other end, the Freedom will hope losing Thiago Salgado isn’t too big of a blow. He finished third in the MVP rankings and is now a member of the Carolina Cowboys.

A year ago, the Freedom led the league with three 10+ ride weekends, including an 11-for-15 showing at Gambler Days, where they were a 2025 league-best 953.5 points in a single weekend. The Freedom were also one of three teams to have a perfect 5-for-5 game, and were the only ones to do it twice, first on Day 2 in Duluth and on Day 3 in Anaheim, where they scored a 2025 Team Series best 434.25 points in a single game.

They were one of three teams to never go winless at an event and finished three events undefeated, winning two of them.

However, the Freedom are currently in an unstable position, although they finished the 2025 regular season with 97 total qualified rides, they lost a league-most 40 qualified rides among their departing players, most notably Salgado and his 24. The four riders they added combined for just 10 qualified rides in 2025, leaving the Freedom with a league-worst net loss of 30 qualified rides this offseason.

Rider to Watch: Austin Richardson – The five-time UTB winner is a new member of the Freedom and has only covered 18 percent of his bulls in his PBR Teams career, he did however, rack up 179.7 points on his first two bulls of the 2026 season in Fort Collins. He undoubtedly has the talent, the 26-year-old is just yet to find the right match in PBR Teams.

Kansas City Outlaws

2025 Record: 11-24 (8th in regular season, eliminated on Day 1 of World Championship)

The Outlaws might be in a rough position once again after a disappointing 2025. After a season that included four winless weekends, they were one of just two teams that failed to add a rider who recorded a qualified ride in 2025.

Their saving grace, however, could come in the form of Hayden Welsh. The 19-year-old was drafted first overall in 2026 and is sitting No. 3 in the PRCA World Standings. Welsh set a record last season for most money ever won on a PRCA permit and has covered nearly 60 percent of his bulls in what is officially his rookie season in 2026.

As mentioned, Welsh joins a mostly unchanged Outlaw squad. They retained their Top 5 riders, of which includes Koltin Hevalow, who finished 5th in the MVP rankings last year. There was just one other Outlaw, Heitor Santos Ferreira, who finished in the Top 40 in the MVP race. He was 17th.

The last piece of the puzzle for Outlaws could be Cassio Dias, the 2024 UTB World Champion who has been riddled with injuries since that Gold Buckle. He made just five outs in 2025, but did manage 15 qualified rides in UTB in 2026.

Who else wants to ride? No team had less riders in the Top 40 a year ago than the Outlaws. Their Top 2 are proven to be good enough to lead a time, but they have to get production from outside of Hevalow and Santos Ferreira to have any shot a successful season.

Missouri Thunder

2025 Record: 15-20 (7th in regular season, second in World Championship)

Missouri finished the regular season seventh at 15-20, but their 5082.5 aggregate points ranked last in the league. They were the only team that never went undefeated or winless at an event, living almost entirely in the middle. That steady mediocrity showed up in the numbers, they had just one weekend with more qualified rides than buck-offs and never topped eight qualified rides at a single event.

Miraculously, the Thunder pulled themselves together and fought all the way to the World Championship Final, where their cinder all run was ultimately ended by the Carolina Cowboys.

This offseason, though, they lost nine riders who made up 80 of the team’s 175 outs last season. They supplemented that with the additions of just four riders, only one of whom recorded a qualified ride last year, Julio Cesar Marques. Cesar Marques slides comfortably into a new core three alongside Maverick Smith and Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, but the Thunder will still look to lean on their full roster for production. It could come from anywhere and plenty of guys could get an opportunity. Miguel Alves de Jesus, Macaulie Leather, and Felipe Furlan will be names to watch.

MVP Candidate: Paulo Eduardo Rossetto – Bull riding’s lone switch hitter had the best UTB season of his career, finishing fourth and having an outside shot at the World Title down the stretch. He rode 54 percent of his bulls last year in Teams and has matured mightily as a bull rider since then.

Nashville Stampede

2025 Record: 15-20 (6th in regular season, eliminated in quarterfinals)

After losing finishing below .500 again and getting bounced quickly from the World Championship, the Stampede re-tooled the heart of their roster for the 2026 season.

They return only two Top 30 riders from a season ago — Alan de Souza and Cody Jesus. Instead of Austin Richardson and Kaiden Loud, they added Riquelmi Silva and Daylon Swearingen, who will miss the 2026 Teams Season with a back injury.

Ky Hamilton provides a fresh injection of talent as well. The Aussie was selected second overall in this spring’s PBR Teams Draft and won the PRCA World Championship in 2023. Rogerio Venancio, the 2024 PBR Brazil Champion, also got off to a promising start to 2026 with a 2-for-2 weekend at Bulls and Beats.

For the 2026 season, the Stampede are one of the hardest teams to project. They have the consistency and scoring power to put together a strong season, but the lack of true star power may be a limiting factor.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: Ky Hamilton will become the third PRCA World Champion since 2022 to make the jump to PBR Teams, joining Josh Frost and Sage Kimzey. Those two have combined to ride 48.7% of their bulls in PBR Teams.

New York Mavericks

2025 Record: 9-25 (10th in regular season, eliminated on Day 1 of World Championship)

The Mavericks had a dismal season in 2025, going winless a league-high six of 12 weekends. However, they did come alive for the their best weekend of the year at Ridge Rider Days, the last event of the regular season.

They covered 10-of-15 bulls and along the way they became just one of three teams to record a perfect games in 2025.

The Mavericks did not acquire any riders with 2025 Team Series experience this offseason, and lost a quality producer in Julio Cesar Marques. But they actually have plenty of reason for optimism due to much of their roster making great strides in the 2026 UTB season.

They have the last two Rookies of the Year in Hudson Bolton and Marco Rizzo as well as Leandro Zampollo, who finished ninth on UTB. Additionally, Bob Mitchell is back in form with a 15th place finish in UTB this year and they added Manoelito de Souza Junior, who finished No. 23 on UTB and has recorded just one Teams out since the end of the 2023 season.

There’s no team who has seen as much rapid development as the Mavericks, now the question is will it translate?

Marco in the Middle: Reigning UTB Rookie of the Year Marco Rizzo may be one of the league’s biggest X factors. They turned to him as the closer in 2025, but he covered just 7-of-23 in that role. Rizzo has all of the talent to lead from the front more productively in 2026.

Oklahoma Wildcatters

2025 Record: 11-24 (9th in regular season, eliminated Day 1 of World Championship)

The Wildcatters had five winless weekends and never recorded more than seven qualified rides in a weekend last year. Furthermore, they netted -17 qualified rides in their year-over-year roster changes, the second-worst total in the league.

Their best rider last season, Josh Frost, is now a Rattler, their second-best, Cort McFadden, is currently on IR. They also lost their fourth best rider in Guilherme Valleiras. They did acquire Kaiden Loud, though, but after a down 2025 Teams Season and 2026 UTB Season, a lot will be riding on the former member of the Nashville Stampede.

The Wildcatter roster will have some extra motivation to ride well this season, however, as the Wildcatters will be rewarding any of their riders who finish in the Top 3 of the regular season MVP standings. If a Wildcatter wins MVP next season, he’ll get a $1,000,000 bonus, 2nd place gets $200,000, and 3rd place wins $100,000.

New Coach, New Team: The Wildcatters became the first team in PBR Teams to make a coaching change and go outside the pool of former PBR bull riders for their leading man. After mutually agreeing to part ways with JB Mauney, the Wildcatters tapped Greg Rhodes, who spent the last 29 years at the helm of Western Texas College. It’ll be the first test of how college rodeo coaching translates to the PBR.

Texas Rattlers

2025 Record: 23-12 (3rd in regular season, 3rd in World Championship)

The Rattlers are one of the best positioned teams heading into the 2026. They finished third a year ago and notched three undefeated weekends and never went winless.

Over the last three seasons, the Rattlers have racked up more regular season wins than any other team with 55 and they got better in the offseason. To pair with Brady Fielder, Daniel Keeping, and Claudio Montanha Jr., they added Josh Frost, Andrew Alivdrez, and Joao Ricardo Vieira, making them one of only three teams to have seven riders or more with at least three qualified rides in 2025.

They were also one of two teams to have gained more qualified rides than they lost this offseason, netting a total of 13.

If you’re into odds, Draftkings currently lists the Rattlers as World Title favorites at +400.

Home Cooking: No team does better in front of their own crowd than the Rattlers to inside Dickies Arena. They won eight in a row their first three years there and are 10-1 all-time in Fort Worth.