Curling Day in Canada may be on horizon
TSN floating trial balloon Feb. 23 with event centred around scotties playoffs
Saturday is Hockey Day in Canada.
Sunday is the closest thing we’ve had to Curling Day in Canada — but an official one looks to be coming soon.
Hockey Day in Canada has wheeled its crew, including Ron MacLean and Don Cherry, to Swift Current, Sask., for the 19th annual smorgasbord of hockey stories and features from around the land highlighted by all seven Canadian NHL franchises in televised action, with games from Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver featured during the 12-hour-plus telecast.
Sunday is the day most provinces determine their representatives for the Brier and Sportsnet will feature both semifinals and finals from Canada’s two top curling provinces: Alberta and Manitoba.
Sportsnet normally restricts itself to televising its own property, the Pinty’s Grand Slam events, most of which feature $100,000 for both men and women. But on this day they take on the men’s championships that send Alberta and Manitoba representatives to the TSN-televised Brier.
For years, the hope has been one network or the other would adopt the Hockey Day in Canada format for curling, with stories, features and games televised from coast to coast, but it hasn’t happened.
There appears to be a happening on the horizon.
Curling Canada and TSN have decided to declare Feb. 23, the second-last day of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women’s championship, Curling Day in Canada.
It’s sort of a test balloon they’re putting up and the initial indications are so overwhelming that Curling Canada executive Danny Lamoureux, heading up the project with TSN producer Mark Blimke, believes it’ll go forward in a big way.
“We decided to keep it kind of modest in our first year with an hour on TSN between the (Page playoff ) 3-4 game and the 1-2 game on the Saturday of the Scotties,” he said. “We’ll use the hour to preview TSN’s Brier coverage with interviews of some of the teams and some special storytelling from around curling from coast to coast.
“We asked for submissions and received over 200 of them from backyard curling rinks to events on rivers and lakes and exceptionally interesting submissions from clubs.
“We have a contest where Jeff Stoughton and Nolan Thiessen will visit a club with the Brier Tankard and hold clinics and events and another contest where we’ll award a $10,000 renovation to a curling club. And we’ll hold a draw for a trip for four to next year’s Brier in Kingston, (Ont.)
“I think with the response we’ve had already, everybody involved would like to ramp it up.
“And I believe where we’d like to go would be a Sunday with finals of the provincials leading to the Brier, very much like Hockey Day in Canada with games involving Canada’s five NHL teams.”
There’s one problem. Sportsnet has signed up Alberta through 2022 with the intent of keeping the Manitoba-Alberta double whammy going.
That’s terrific for curling fans here, especially on a week that has featured -20 C to -30 C temperatures.
“We know that the television coverage can affect live attendance and ticket sales, but we’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Sportsnet,” said Jill Richard, the first executive officer of the newly created Curling Alberta that has merged the Northern, Southern and Peace associations.
“It’s an opportunity for us to showcase our Alberta athletes and host communities and it helps build value for our sponsors.
“I completely understand that some fans would rather stay in the comfort of their own homes to enjoy the four games from the two provinces with the great commentary and great insight along the way.”
This year, Don Landry will team with Kevin Martin out of Edmonton and Rob Faulds will work with Jeff Stoughton for the Manitoba playoffs from Virden with Brad Fay, Mike Harris and Brad Gushue in studio.
The Manitoba games start at 7:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and the Alberta games at 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (all times Mountain).
Sportsnet vice-president Rob Corte, responding from Swift Current, said Alberta and Manitoba are no-brainers.
“We’re very satisfied with both properties,” he said.
“Both Manitoba and Alberta have a deep pool of talent and we’ve seen compelling matches out of both provinces. This is certainly reflected in the growing audience reach year over year.”
The reach numbers illustrate that rather emphatically. In 2015, it was 458,000. The following year, it rocketed to 981,000. Two years ago, it hit 1.3 million and last year 1.8 million.
Asked if Sportsnet was considering expansion to include other provinces, Corte offered no suggestion it was on the front burner.
“We are always open to exploring new opportunities, but we are currently focused on delivering premier coverage of the Alberta and Manitoba men’s championships this weekend.”
As for producing an event for curling similar to Hockey Day in Canada, he essentially offered the same quote.