COLLEGE TOWN, FL — Florida State University's Doak Campbell Stadium is showcasing its versatility, transforming from a football field into a professional bull-riding arena for PBR Florida State on March 13-14.
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Crews are converting Florida State University's Doak Campbell Stadium into a professional bull-riding arena this week, bringing in more than 2,500 tons of dirt ahead of a two-night PBR Florida State event.
Twenty semi-trucks have been delivering dirt over the past two days to prepare the field for the event. The 5.5 million pounds of dirt — a special clay and sand mix designed to create the right surface for both riders and bulls — will cover roughly 30,000 square feet of the football field.
FSU Senior Associate Athletics Director for Facilities and Capital Projects Ben Zierden, said the stadium's recent renovations were designed with events like this in mind.
"This is why we did it, one of the reasons that we had the renovations with the west side of Doak Campbell stadium, was to make this possible," Zierden said.
The transformation comes just two weeks after the Savannah Bananas converted Doak Campbell into a baseball field for their event.
Zierden said the university sees the event as an opportunity to highlight the stadium and the broader Tallahassee community.
"It's a great opportunity for us to showcase Doak Campbell Stadium, Florida State University, and the Tallahassee community. And that's really the great feedback we're getting from again both PBR and with the Bananas, was just how great it was to work with all of our staffs here on the athletics side of things our campus partners, everybody got involved with this…looking really forward to doing a lot of this as we go forward, you know multiple events, next year as well," Zierden said.
The two-night event will feature more than 50 bucking bulls, each weighing around 1,800 pounds. Bo Davis, the PBR Director of Arena and Livestock Operations, described what attendees can expect.
"I'll tell you what, it is one of the most action-packed shows you will ever get to witness, it's good, loud rock and roll music, and we're having fun. And we got the greatest bull riders in the world, and we always put together the very best bulls in the world, so I mean it's man against beast, it's one on one, stand alone, and they do the best they can to be superstars every time, the bulls and the riders," Davis said.
Concerts are also scheduled after the bull riding concludes each night.
Tickets are still available. Competition begins March 13 and 14 at 7:45 p.m.
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