The PBR’s New York Mavericks host a three-day homestand at UBS Arena, complete with a single-lane bowling alley on the course, giving city dwellers a rare chance to watch someone else get thrown around for eight seconds
Yeehaw, Elmont
ELMONT. The New York Mavericks, the Professional Bull Riding team nicknamed the Concrete Cowboys, are holding a three-day homestand at UBS Arena from October 16 to 18, according to amNY’s report on the Mavericks returning for a bull riding homestand at UBS Arena. Billed as Go Bowling Maverick Days, the event features five team matches each day, with the Mavericks closing every session. Scheduled opponents, subject to change, are the Arizona Ridge Riders on October 16, the Florida Freedom on October 17 and the Texas Rattlers on October 18. It is the team’s third official homestand, after a debut at Barclays Center in 2024 and a move to UBS Arena in 2025.
For New Yorkers, the Mavericks present a cultural puzzle. The city has baseball, basketball, hockey, football and soccer. It has subway surfing, competitive brunch and the annual sport of trying to get a table at a new restaurant. Bull riding, a discipline associated with Texas, Oklahoma and wide open skies, has now been handed to a city whose wide open skies are mostly visible from rooftop bars.
The Concrete Cowboys
The nickname Concrete Cowboys may be the most perfect sports nickname in New York history. It captures the absurd ambition of a city that believes it can do anything, including bull riding, and the toughness of a population that already spends much of its day being thrown around. A Bronx subway commuter who has ridden the 4 train for twenty years said he saw no difference between his commute and the sport. Eight seconds holding on while something huge tries to throw you off, he said. That is the 4 train between 125th and 86th. I have been training my whole life. I just never got a buckle.
A nurse from Queens said she had become a Mavericks fan after attending last year. I went as a joke, she said. I left screaming. It is the most intense thing I have ever seen, and I have worked a night shift in an emergency room on New Year’s Eve. The bulls are very large. The riders are very brave. The bowling alley is very confusing.
The Bowling Alley
Among the fan activities is a single-lane Go Bowling alley on the course, a combination that sports historians may struggle to explain. Bull riding and bowling occupy opposite ends of the athletic spectrum. One involves a rider clinging to a bucking animal weighing as much as a small car. The other involves rolling a ball slowly toward pins while holding a soft drink. Combining them in one arena is, depending on your point of view, either a marketing masterstroke or the most New York idea ever conceived.
A bowling league veteran from Staten Island said he was cautiously optimistic. Bowling is a gentleman’s game, he said. You roll, you wait, you have a beer. Bull riding is chaos. I worry that the bowlers will become more aggressive. Or that the bulls will become more relaxed. Either way, someone is going to get confused about the rules.
Seat Strategy
Mavericks general manager Chris Pantani offered fans seating advice, telling amNY that you are only going to need the front half of your seat, because you are going to be on the edge of your seat the whole time. New Yorkers, who routinely pay for full seats at sporting events and use only half of them because the person next to them has spread out, welcomed the guidance. A season ticket holder for the Knicks said this was the first time a sports executive had been honest about how much seat he would actually get. At Madison Square Garden I pay for a seat, he said. I get about sixty percent of it. The man next to me gets the rest. At least here they tell you up front.
The Stakes
Pantani also told amNY that the homestand is going to shake up the standings a little bit as you head into the finals. For the Mavericks, coached by Kody Lohstroh, the three-day event offers a chance to make an impression in front of a home crowd before the season reaches its climax. In team bull riding, riders compete in head-to-head matchups, earning points for qualified rides, with the team format adding a layer of strategy and rivalry to what was traditionally an individual sport.
The Social App
Fans can also use Hooked IRL, a social app for meeting people at live events, adding a romantic dimension to an evening of bulls, bowling and country music. A dating coach in Manhattan said bull riding could be an excellent setting for a first date. Shared adrenaline creates connection, she said. You scream together, you gasp together, you watch a man get launched into the air together. After that, dinner conversation is easy. Compare that to a wine bar in the West Village, where you talk about your job for two hours and pretend to like natural wine.
New York Embraces The West
The Mavericks are part of a larger trend of New Yorkers embracing country culture. Country bars, line dancing classes and western wear have all enjoyed surges in popularity in the city, and cowboy hats appear with increasing frequency on the L train. Cultural observers argue that New Yorkers, surrounded by concrete, crave a taste of open spaces and simple living. Skeptics argue that New Yorkers simply like dressing up, and the cowboy look photographs well.
The Last Word
Outside UBS Arena on Friday evening, a man in a brand-new cowboy hat, brand-new boots and a Mets jacket explained why he had come. I have never been west of Jersey, he said. I have never touched a cow. I live on the twelfth floor in Rego Park. But tonight, I am a cowboy. He adjusted his hat, which was still wearing its price tag. A concrete cowboy, he said. And proud of it. Then he went inside to try the bowling alley, because, he said, the bulls looked busy.