Mayor kicks off Professional Bull Riders' Thunder Days homestand

Springfield News-Leader

Mayor Ken McClure welcomed professional rodeo cowboy LJ Jenkins and his bull Malaki to Springfield — kicking off the inaugural Professional Bull Riders Thunder Days homestand.

"Welcome to Malaki, who I'm told is five-years-old," McClure said, handing the bull a Springfield visitors guide. "Springfield has many amenities for you to explore, although I was told not to recommend a steakhouse."

Owned by Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris, the Missouri Thunder is an elite team of professional bull riders that will play five-on-five bull riding games against seven other Professional Bull Riders teams from around the country Sept. 23-25 at the Thunder Ridge Nature Arena in nearby Ridgedale. The Missouri Thunder is coached by bull riding legends Luke Snyder and Ross Coleman and will take on the Carolina Cowboys Friday, the Nashville Stampede Saturday and the Oklahoma Freedom on Sunday.

Springfield Mayor Ken McClure speaks during a commencement for the Missouri Thunder bull riding team at the Route 66 Springfield Visitor Information Center on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022. The Missouri Thunder is an elite team of bull riders, who will compete at Thunder Ridge Nature Arena from Sept. 23-25.

McClure was joined by PBR contractor and retired bull rider LJ Jenkins. When he retired in 2015, he was the 24th-ranked bull rider in world standings and had earned more than $1.8 million in prize money over the past decade of bull riding. Jenkins is one of only three riders in PBR history to win the World Finals event title and the National Finals Rodeo title. Born in Springfield and growing up in nearby Strafford, Jenkins was inducted to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.

"Malaki is a world class bucking bull," Jenkins said of the animal. "You look at him right here, he seems as sweet as can be ... but just last week he threw a rider about 20 feet in the air."

PBR Stock Contractor L.J. Jenkins shows a video of Malaki, a part of the Missouri Thunder bull riding team, to community members during a commencement at the Route 66 Springfield Visitor Information Center on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022. The Missouri Thunder is an elite team of bull riders, who will compete at Thunder Ridge Nature Arena from Sept. 23-25.

The PBR Team Series is a new league featuring the world’s top bull riders competing on teams in five-on-five bull riding games during an 11-event season that began in July and culminates in a team championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas November 4-6.

Events are staged in a tournament-style format with all teams competing in head-to-head matchups against a different opponent each day. Each game features five riders per team squaring off against another team. Full team rosters are comprised of seven riders on the core roster and three practice squad members. The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides among its riders is declared the winner of each game. The event winner is the team with the most game wins across an event.

All PBR Team Series events are carried on either the CBS Television Network, streaming live on Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, or RidePass on Pluto TV.