PUEBLO, Colorado — The Professional Bull Riders are leaving Pueblo after 17 years. The company is heading for Texas leaving the City with lost jobs and millions of dollars spent to recruit and keep them here.
CEO Sean Gleason declined our request for an on-camera interview.
Andrew Giangola, the PBR's Vice President of Strategic Communications, confirmed the departure via email writing, "The organization’s official HQ is now in Fort Worth, where PBR World Finals is held, and we have weekly events at the Cowtown Coliseum."
"PBR will still have a presence in the Riverwalk building into mid-2025," Giangola said.
City Council President Mark Aliff said Friday he was aware of the departure. Community members have shared news clippings with him from outlets in Fort Worth announcing the economic incentives offered to the PBR.
"We fully expected PBR to be a part of this community for many, many years to come," Aliff said. "And any time you lose jobs and you lose a corporate neighbor, that's not good."
Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham said the city is sad to see the PBR leave. She is skeptical as to whether the company truly met its employment obligations to the City.
"We're also sad to see the half-cent sales tax dollars go to a business that once their commitment was met, they decided that Pueblo wasn't the place for them," Graham said.
Pueblo offered big money to entice the PBR to relocate here from Colorado Springs in 2007.
Pueblo Economic Development Corporation (PEDCO) President Jeff Shaw said the biggest incentive offered to the PBR was the company's new headquarters building on the Riverwalk.
"Which was a great project, at least in my opinion, because it spearheaded the start of the development on the Riverwalk," Shaw said.
Construction of the building cost nearly $11 million and more than $7 million came from taxpayers via the city's half-cent sales tax fund, News 5 reported at the time.
The PBR pledged to maintain its staff of 76 employees from October 2008 through October 2011. They committed to growing to 180 employees from October 2011 through October 2018 under the original agreement.
However, their payroll never reached that target and by December 2012 the PBR faced mounting debt owed to the city for the missing jobs.
Interim City Manager Jim Munch wrote to the council that December that the PBR's outstanding balance was $4.6 million. City Council and the PBR restructured their agreement with a new 10-year lease that lowered the employment commitment to 80 jobs.
As part of the new agreement, PBR also turned over ownership of two Riverwalk-facing condominium units on the basement level of the building and provided the city with $500,000 worth of national marketing.
Pueblo invested in the PBR again the following year making the sport the centerpiece of its Regional Tourism Act application, the PBR University and Heritage of Heroes.
Global sports, fashion, and media company IMG purchased the PBR in 2015. Jim Haworth was CEO during the transition dispelled fears of an early departure during an interview with News 5.
"Hey, our home is Pueblo, Colorado," Haworth said. "We're excited to be here in Pueblo. When you look at Southern Colorado and the State of Colorado and what that means for professional bull riding, this is the place we want to be."
The Bull Rider Sport Performance Center officially opened in 2019 alongside the expansion of the Pueblo Convention Center. The PBR has hosted occasional events in the space in subsequent years.
In October 2020, bull riders sparred with UFC fighters in a toughness competition at the Sport Performance Center. The PBR organized its first-ever bull rider draft in 2022. The process mimicked the NFL Draft. Bullriders demonstrated physical ability at a combine in Pueblo that March.
It seems to Aliff that the PBR's tourism promises made as part of the RTA project came with a lot of hat and very few cattle.
"IMG along with the University were going to create sports camps, bring in a ton of people from out of the community to attend the sports camps, be a part of moving Pueblo forward with a ton of tourism but that never happened," Aliff said.
The PBR's employment agreement with Pueblo ended in 2022. The City signed over the deed for the headquarters building (minus the 2 condominium units) at the pre-agreed price of $1.
Shaw from PEDCO assured News 5 that the PBR more than completed its commitment to taxpayers.
"The taxpayers were not only made whole on the project, we came out ahead because they actually extended it out and they actually guaranteed jobs longer than companies normally guarantee jobs for," he said.
Mayor Graham said the City offered to buy back the building from the PBR but they declined. The company is reportedly in the process of selling to another buyer.
Graham is questioning the structure of the current economic development ordinance given the failure of this partnership and the perception that the PBR is profiting off taxpayers by leaving town.
"I think that the ordinance can be adjusted specifically maybe to help local businesses grow their already existing business," Graham said.
"Instead of trying to attract these bigger companies to come into Pueblo who can essentially leave when their contract (ends), when you're local you have a little more care about your community and I think that's important."
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