by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Eight seconds is an eternity for bull riders, but for those behind the scenes at the Professional Bull Riders Tour it takes a little longer to put together the spectacle that fans of the growing sport have come to love.
But local fans won’t have to wait much longer, as the PBR Built Ford Tough Shootout comes to Jacksonville for a two-day event Friday and Saturday night at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.
“Often times it (the process of bringing PBR to a city) starts years in advance,” said Jerome Robinson, PBR production manager. “It starts with coming to an agreement with officials for the building. Jacksonville was relatively easy and the agreement was made within the last year.”
Robinson has been with the organization since 1994 but in the rodeo and bull riding business for 25 “enjoyable, wonderful” years, he said.
And while booking the venue wasn’t much of an endeavor, getting $9 million worth of production and stage equipment transported, unloaded and set up properly for show time can be a lengthy ordeal.
Seven semi trucks filled to the brim with over 50,000 pounds of steel and equipment pulled into the Arena at 7 a.m. Thursday, where Robinson, PBR crew and hired hands from SMG unloaded each truck piece by piece and began taking parts to their designated areas for assembly.
Everything is on a time schedule – a misstep could mean precious time later – as much of the electrical, stage and production sets need to be completed before dirt-filled dump trucks from local suppliers arrive at 2 p.m. to start filling in the floor.
“It can get kind of hectic around here,” Kenny Boerma, a PBR stage manager. “We’ve got it down pretty good but there isn’t a lot of time to spare.”
From 2–6 p.m. the day before the show, the dirt is prepped and stockyards are created for the bulls in anticipation of their overnight stays. Bulls for the Jacksonville show were housed at a private farm in Hilliard.
The day of the first show means production and crew meetings beginning at 9 a.m. followed by run-throughs to make sure sound, pyrotechnics, lighting and wiring are all configured correctly to ensure things go off without a hitch when the fans start arriving and the TV cameras start rolling.
The two day frenzy might sound stressful, but it’s the multifaceted, deadline driven environment that keeps Robinson on his toes.
“I thrive on the stress,” said Robinson. “Sometimes I think I push things on purpose to get the adrenaline rush.”
Setting up the Jacksonville show isn’t a one-time arrangement for most of the PBR crew, who hit the road for up to 32 event weeks out of the year.
“I’ve had some better times the last two years than the 54 before,” said Bob Hamilton, a PBR traveling audio engineer who has been with the company two years. “You see a lot of neat things and meet many interesting people out here.”
The PBR Built Ford Tough Shootout begins at 8 p.m. tonight and 7:50 p.m. Saturday at the Arena.
For tickets and more information on the event, go to www.pbrnow.com.
356-2466