![]() ![]() The bucking bull industry has grown by 500 percent, according to the Professional Bucking Bull Association: Entry fees are up, and prizes are 10 times larger than they were 10 years ago. "Since March we've raised $33,000 for the charity - the bull industry has," Scharping says. The winnings support Allen's charity to help wounded soldiers. Matt Scharping, a Minnesota genetics company executive whose stiff collar looks a bit out of place in the dusty ring, gets publicity from a bull he co-owns with professional football player Jared Allen of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings. The industry has grown as major networks have signed on to air bucking bull events. Smaller competitions draw sponsorship from local business, but the national bucking bull competitions attract weightier sponsors: Ford, Stanley Tools and Evan Williams Bourbon. "Bull riding draws good crowds, so they get a lot of bang for their buck." "People like coming to bull ridings - businesses know that," says Tony Weborg, the owner of the bull ring hosting the competition. ![]() Over the past 10 years, prize money has increased tenfold, industry officials say, because of the combination of more sponsors, greater competition and television contracts. ![]()
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