A team of star athletes representing South Florida is ranked no. 1 in its league, won its regular season, has grown its fan base and secured its spot in the championship finals.
It’s not the Florida Panthers. It’s not the Miami Heat or the Marlins. And it’s definitely not the Dolphins.
This is the Florida Freedom, a team of professional bull riders hosted in the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. Since becoming South Florida’s newest sports franchise last year, the team has dominated the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) league and is expected to make a splash at the 2025 PBR Camping World Teams Championship in Las Vegas next weekend. The champion team will win a $250,000 prize and the coveted giant belt buckle trophy.
The Florida Freedom’s whirlwind success this season — winning 25 out of 35 competitions— has emerged as a prominent storyline in the world of PBR, a relatively young sports organization founded in 1992. Professional bull riding, considered to be more dangerous than football, was mostly an individual sport until 2022, when PBR introduced teams. There are 10 teams in the league representing different cities, mostly concentrated in the South and Midwest.
The rules for team competitions are similar to traditional individual bull riding: hold on to the rope tied around the bull for eight seconds with one arm, don’t touch the bull with your other arm, and don’t fall off. In the team series, the five riders on each team compete in head-to-head rounds to score points. Whichever team gets the most points aggregated from all five riders wins.
Along with their growing list of wins, the Freedom’s fan base has grown “surprisingly fast,” said Sean Gleason, CEO of PBR. Ticket sales for Florida Freedom events increased by five percent this season, as fans started to warm up to the sport after PBR launched its team series, he said.
“We weren’t sure if it would be a long, slow build or if we’d see an immediate outpouring of support,” said Gleason. “The first year that we were there was a tremendous year. We’re drawing great crowds, and they’re understanding that the Florida Freedom is their team.”
Originally, the team was the Oklahoma Freedom representing Oklahoma City. Businessman Heath Freeman, who bought the team in 2022, and the league decided to relocate the Freedom to Florida, Freeman’s home state.
The Florida Freedom is currently training in Decatur, Texas. As the league grows, Gleason said the goal in the next few years is to establish facilities for each team in their respective cities and for athletes to be based there during the season.
Florida was attractive for several reasons: the region’s rapid growth, large media market, passionate sports fan culture and the largest Brazilian population in the country. Many of PBR’s riders hail from Brazil, known for its rich cattle ranching culture. In fact, all of Florida Freedom’s riders are Brazilian or of Brazilian descent, including the father-son duo at the helm of the team.
The coach and the MVP
Paulo Crimber, the legendary retired bull rider and PBR Hall of Fame athlete, joined the Freedom as its head coach when it moved to Florida. With the first selection in the 2024 draft, the team chose Crimber’s son, bull riding prodigy John Crimber. The younger Crimber, now 20 years old, was named MVP two years in a row.
“That’s just a dream come true,” said Paulo. “We always want our sons to be better than we were, and that’s mission accomplished right there.”
Paulo grew up in a small town in Brazil, milking cows as a 7-year-old boy. He went to a bull riding event in his hometown one day and daydreamed of being on top of the bull. He came to the U.S. as a professional bull rider in 1998, an 18-year-old who didn’t know a word of English. He learned in Texas, where he still lives, and now speaks English with a perfect Texan accent. Over the years, he’s helped dozens of his fellow Brazilians navigate life in the U.S., turning Decatur into a home-away-from-home for Brazilian bull riders.
After two neck injuries, Paulo retired from bull riding at 28. He then worked as a PBR judge and translator. When the league launched its team series, Paulo said he saw an opportunity for himself and the sport. He joined the Arizona Ridge Riders as a coach and later signed onto the Florida Freedom.
“I thought that was the future of the sport. PBR has been individual for 30 years, and it couldn’t get any bigger. The teams just took it the next level,” he said. “And now, you’re watching TV, you flip the channel, you see Florida Freedom, and say ‘What is that?’ It’s just a bigger door opening for more people, more fans, to reach out and see how amazing our sport is.”
John, on the other hand, wasn’t always convinced.
“I thought it was pretty dumb at first. Well, not dumb! It’s just that I never heard of PBR teams. I just wasn’t about it,” John said. “But as soon as that first year went, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I wanted to be part of a team and be in that atmosphere.”
Following in his father’s footsteps, John has been enamored with bull riding his whole life. At age 6, he started riding miniature bulls. “I fell off so fast, but I got kind of angry at myself,” he said. “I expected so much more of myself.”
John carried that high standard with him into adulthood, especially with his father as his coach. When he is in the chute before he heads out to the arena, John said he looks at his dad, who reminds him to “go out there and have fun.” That makes him feel calm before gripping onto the back of a bucking bull for eight seconds.
“There’s a love-hate relationship sometimes,” John said, laughing. “He expects a lot from me and I love it. I wouldn’t want to be on any other team.”
Heading to the championship
So what does it take to be the no. 1 team in the league?
“A lot of hard work, determination, team effort,” Paulo said. “Just sweat, blood and pain.”
Riders who are accustomed to competing individually and riding the biggest, baddest bulls they can have to change their mindset to focus on what’s best for the team, Paulo said.
“A lot of guys are still adapting into the format. It’s not an easy task, but I’m blessed to have a very great owner and team behind me that support me with my decisions,” he said. “I’m very blessed to have a group of young guys with very strong and big hearts. They give everything they got.”
The riders on the Freedom’s roster are John Crimber, João Lucas Campos, Alex Cerqueira, Yan Victor Santos Cunha, Elizmar Souza Jeremias, Thiago Salgado and João Ricardo Vieira.
Gleason said he’s keeping his eye on the Freedom going into the finals in Las Vegas from Oct. 24 to 26. Not only did John win the MVP again this year, his teammate Salgado came in close second.
“It’s the first time that we’ve seen two members of the same team in the running and battling it out for the MVP race,” Gleason said. “Florida’s got two superstars in this league, and I think they’re going to be really hard to beat if they’re on their game when they come into the teams championships.”
The team hopes to keep making South Florida proud, Paulo said.
“We’ll come back with a gold buckle in Vegas,” he said.