From Will Ferrell to PBR Titles, JJ Gottsch Is Always in the Action

Originally posted on Rodeo on SI | By Andrew Giangola | Last updated Oct 21, 2025 6:00 PM ET

In early October, more people watched the PBR Teams Game of the Week on CBS than the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs respective playoff games. Side chatter debating whether bull riding is mainstream was officially swept into the sports talk dustbin.

Millions of fans are tuning to bull riding games as the league showcasing five-on-five games charges into its fourth championship in Las Vegas Oct. 24-26.

That record-setting PBR Teams broadcast from Kansas City – the largest audience in CBS’s 13 years carrying professional bull riding – was extra sweet for one team executive with deep roots in baseball, bringing him an appreciation of its beauty and appeal from decades of experience on and off the field.

JJ Gottsch, President of the Austin Gamblers, was a short stop on Creighton’s 1991 College World Series team. He went on to play professionally in the Pioneer league and in Australia. After hanging up his spikes, Gottsch was a successful executive growing the Houston Astros AA and AAA minor league teams and a key executive (and Nolan Ryan’s first hire) at Ryan Sanders Sports Entertainment.

During his time with the Round Rock Express, a team named after owner Nolan Ryan who had the nickname “The Ryan Express,” Gottsch was in the middle of one of the wildest hoaxes in baseball history, a buzzy ploy that would make Sidd Finch smile.

As it played out, in the spring of 2010, fans of the Astros' AAA team heard about the signing of Billy Ray “Rojo” Johnson, a hard-throwing right-hander born in East Texas, raised in Venezuela, and now available to pitch with his prison sentence commuted after doing time for smuggling exotic reptiles into the US.

The press was buzzing. Hardcore fans were happy to land a fireballer on the staff. Sponsors were skittish; brands don’t like associating with ex-cons. A major healthcare partner was on the verge of dropping out.

Finally, it was Rojo’s turn to pitch.

He was called in for relief work in the top of the sixth inning during a close game against the Nashville Sounds.

Rojo, a big man at 6’ 3” leading with a bushy mustache, trotted to the mound carrying a flimsy bag that looked like it came from a corner convenience store. Rojo took the mound, pulled out a can of Bud heavy, and cracked it open.

Fans were onto the ruse. With his comical gestures, costume-shop mustache, dad bod and gaudy yellow-gold chain dangling halfway to his belt, this pitcher sure looked like the fictional anchorman Ron Burgundy.

A player not listed on Nashville’s roster stepped into the batter’s box to face Will Ferrell impersonating a Venezuelan ex-con playing ball in the US. It was JJ Gottsch – 16 years removed from his playing career. Now serving in the front office of the Express, he was in great shape and completely credible as a left-handed pinch hitter.

Ferrell put down the beer. His first pitch sailed behind Gottsch. The umpire promptly ejected “Rojo,” who threw his glove at Gottsch, who returned the favor with his helmet aimed at Ferrell. It was on. Gottsch full-on received the rest of Ferrell’s foamy Budweiser. A foot chase ensued into the outfield, where Ferrell put the pinch hitter into a headlock, then the two dashed out the center-field gate, for more of that Budweiser and a few laughs.

Pulling off a hilarious skit like that with Ferrell, in town to promote his charity golf tournament, decades before the Savannah Bananas conditioned baseball fans it was OK to laugh, it’s no wonder Gottsch helped lead the Astros’ minor league teams to record-setting attendance.

But beyond channeling P.T. Barnum, Gottsch understood the product on the field matters most. Want to convince the market of Austin, Texas, traditionally not a PBR stronghold, to get behind their bull riding team in a new and untested league? Win.

Backed by full ownership support and the leadership of head coach Michael Gaffney, the “Big Green Machine” built a championship pedigree by relentlessly pursuing top talent through the draft, trades, and free agency – a strategy that delivered back-to-back PBR Camping World Team Series Regular Season titles (2022, 2023) and last season’s overall championship.

The Gamblers finished the 2025 season No. 2 with a 24-11 record, securing a first-round bye heading into T-Mobile Arena.

“To go a perfect 3-0 two of the last three weekends of the season and do it without our (injured) team captain Jose Vitor Leme shows the strength and depth of the team we were able to build,” Gottsch said.

That said, Gottsch recognizes that on any given night, anything can happen in PBR Teams.

And it’s not just on the cowboy athlete side where a struggling squad like Justin McBride’s last-place Nashville Stampede can get hot when it counted most to win the inaugural trophy, a group like the underachieving, injury-riddled New York Mavericks under Kody Lostroh frustrated all summer long can find their health and stride in a September run to make them a team everyone wants to avoid.

Handicapping PBR is different, and for fans, particularly the betting type, ultimately more intriguing and nearly impossible to predict, because of one undeniable element: the bulls.

“In this sport on any given night, more than two teams going against one another team, we are playing against 10 bulls. And they don't care if you’re a Gambler, an Outlaw, a Cowboy or a Maverick,” Gottsch said.

He confirmed that Leme – the three-time World Champion and two-time Teams league MVP – will be back for the bracket-style survive-and-advance tournament that begins Friday, October 24.

With that crucial first-round bye, Leme and company won’t compete until Saturday.

“Every team is beat up,” Gottsch said. “Remember, we went from 28 to 35 games (in the regular season), a 25 percent increase. To be able to rest our guys, even if only one more night, is huge.”

Fans can watch all the action exclusively on FOX Nation Friday at 11 p.m. ET and then the final two days on CW – Saturday 10:30 p.m. and Sunday 5 p.m. ET

As taxing as the season has been, some locales can invigorate a team.

“Vegas is such a great place to end the season after the long grind going weekend to weekend, airport to airport, coast to coast,” Gottsch said. “There's something special about that city. Even though it’s a long season, and we are all tired, Vegas gives you that extra energy.”

Las Vegas has become the ultimate proving ground for PBR Teams. The only sin is not to win.

So, following the third straight year the regular season title was decided during the final game at the final stop in Glendale, demonstrating the league’s continuing parity.

Gottsch hopes his powerhouse lineup, including 7-time World Champion Sage Kimzey, who he signed heading into this season, 2018 World Champion Kaique “Ice Man” Pacheco, and home-run hitter Dalton Kasel, gets a comfortable lead in the title game late Sunday afternoon. But if it’s tight, and it usually is in Las Vegas, Austin has their closer Leme back.

Unlike Will Ferrell on the mound, the bulls in the chutes will be unscripted, with tendencies, but ultimately unpredictable. Putting in the work, investing in his team, and feeling good when the spotlight burns brightest, Gottsch likes his chances.

If the cards fall the right way for the Austin Gamblers, expect cold beer and a few laughs afterwards.