ERA 2016 Season Preview- Bareback Riding

The 2016 rodeo season brings the arrival of a new organization made up of a plethora of past and current World Champions. Elite Rodeo Athletes, often referred to as ERA, begins its inaugural season this Friday in Redmond, OR. The season will conclude November 9-13 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX.

The ERA will feature a group of the best cowboys and cowgirls in seven different rodeo events, and the roster that has been assembled is incredible to say the least. The competition in every event is going to be fierce, and with a television deal with Fox Sports 2 already in place, fans of the sport will get to see all of the action over the next several months.

I've put together a little preview for fans of the sport, and I'll even go out on a limb and make my predictions on who all will be crowned the first-ever ERA World Champions in November! In part one of the preview, I'm focusing on Bareback Riding. Feel free to chime in with your own predictions by commenting below or on Twitter. Enjoy!

Bareback Riding Roster

• Richmond Champion
• Steven Dent
• Kaycee Feild
• Austin Foss
• Ryan Gray
• Tilden Hooper
• Will Lowe
• Justin McDaniel
• Bobby Mote
• Steven Peebles
• Wes Stevenson

Overall Roster Outlook
The bareback riding roster is headlined by four-time World Champion Kaycee Feild. The Utah cowboy won the title every season from 2011-2014 and will be one of the favorites to win the 2016 ERA World Championship. Feild will be joined by four riders who have also won World Titles in the past, including the 2015 Champion Steven Peebles. Peebles is coming off an amazing season and will battle for the top spot once again this season.

The other former World Champions are Bobby Mote (4 titles), Will Lowe (3 titles), and Justin McDaniel (1 title). While a majority of the bareback riding roster is made up of veterans of the sport, there are a couple young guns who have made an immediate impression on the sport as well.

Richmond Champion and Austin Foss don't have as much experience as the rest, but they're both more than capable of contending. Champion was the Million Dollar Winner at The American in 2014, and Foss is coming off a season in which he finished fifth in the World Standings.

2016 Bareback Riding Champion Prediction- Kaycee Feild
Feild has won four of the last five gold buckles in bareback riding, and he has to be the favorite going into the first ERA season. Every rider on the roster is going to be capable of contending this season, but Feild has been too strong the last handful of years to pick against. Regardless of which rider becomes the first-ever ERA World Champion Bareback Rider, it's going to be an exciting first year of competition in this event.

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