Dickies Arena Ideal Design For Dirt-Loving PBR World Finals

Dickies Arena in Fort Worth offers an ideal home for dirt. And that’s perfect for the home of the 2023 PBR World Finals and the 1,200 tons of red Texas dirt needed to host the hundreds of bulls and riders for the multi-weekend event.

From a 2019-opened arena holding just over 9,000 fans for the rodeo setup designed with rodeo and bull riding in mind to the bull riding-friendly dirt of Fort Worth, the PBR World Finals offers a combination meant for the sport.

“This building is almost brand new and very friendly for this,” Randy Spraggins, PBR’s official “dirt man” tells me. “This building was well thought out and they planned for making it quicker and more fluid for load-in and loud-out and the things we do.”

Constructed nearby to the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo facility, the David M. Schwarz-designed building has ample room for truck movement, even allowing for loading on either end.

With the idea bull riding dirt housed at the stock show grounds, it was as easy as a load-in as possible. With 800 cubic yards of dirt all stockpiled and stored in Fort Worth, Spraggins didn’t have to make new dirt for this event—he estimates he makes new material for about half the PBR events, such as for Madison Square Garden in New York City, and uses stockpiled dirt for the other half, such as in Forth Worth. The trucks moving the dirt had to travel just a couple of miles.

What makes the red dirt of Fort Worth ideal is the roughly 70% sand and 30% clay mix that Spraggins says “packs down good.” That’s not rare for the state. “You find good dirt down here in Texas,” he says. “It is from right here, it is local.”

The color is uniquely Texas too. Every location has a slightly different color thanks to the natural makeup, but the red dirt of Fort Worth has a distinct hue. Of course, not every dirt is fully natural, as the PBR adds glitter in Las Vegas for “blinged up dirt.” That doesn’t happen in Texas. “The color down here is pretty awesome,” Spraggins says, “that nice red.”

To make it all work, the Super 16 trucks bring loads of material to cover the arena floor and then machinery compacts the 8 inches of dirt depth, watering it to help compact the material. The bottom 5 inches remains compacted throughout the event, while the top 3-inch layer is groomed before the event and again at intermission to ensure proper footing for the bulls.

“The bulls are looking for traction, good firm footing,” Spraggins says. “These guys are strong. I watch their feet and we have a 3-inch cushion on top. The better they feel, the harder they try.”

Allowing the dirt to sit for multiple days before a competition, something not common in the busy calendars of arenas, helps create more stable footing.

Throughout the event, crews keep the dirt watered to ensure dust doesn’t cover the seats and that the cushion layer remains hydrated.

Cord McCoy, a five-time International Professional Rodeo Association world champion and now a stock contractor who owns Ridin Solo, the 2022 World Champion Bull, says having the PBR World Finals inside Dickies Arena has allowed Fort Worth to really put a stamp on the sport. “As young as this arena is, there has been a lot of history made in this arena,” McCoy tells me.

He says the loading of bulls on both ends, the set-up on the arena floor, the proximity to the bull housing and the fact many of the bulls don’t have to travel far to get to the event all makes the venue ideal for the sport. Add in a boisterous crowd—just as the sport receives in places such as Las Vegas and New York City—and he says the bulls really do feed off the energy.

As both the riders and bull owners know, in the end the dirt can make the difference. “The red dirt here,” McCoy says while stepping his Ariat boots through the material, “the bulls pattern well. They get good footing. They stick good and jump high. This is Texas dirt.”