More clubs closing than opening in Canada
The good news for curling is new rinks are opening. The bad news is even more are closing.
Chilliwack, Berwick, N.S., Chelsea and Riviere-du-Loup, Que., have opened, or are about to open, new facilities for their local curling clubs this year.
Regina’s Tartan Club, Toronto’s Scarboro curling club, Winnipeg’s West Kildonan, and the Churchill Curling Club in Innisfil, Ont., have shuttered in the last two years.
Winnipeg’s Rossmere Curling Club announced in September operations are suspended for 2018-19 due to an expensive equipment failure. Toronto’s Weston club has also suspended curling operations for the season.
Danny Lamoureux, Curling Canada’s director of championship services and curling club development, acknowledges that the country is losing “too many” facilities.
Curling Canada is resurrecting the Curling Assistance Program (CAP) that operated between 1999 and 2016 in a different format. CAP will provide loans towards capital projects at less than prime with a reasonable payback schedule, Lamoureux explained.
Curling Canada plans to provide $125,000 in loans for each of the next four years for a total of $500,000, he said.
“If they want to do larger renovations and things, we’d like to help them out,” said Curling Canada chief executive officer Katherine Henderson.
“And then some cases when they just need something smaller, we’ll just lend them the money directly,” she added.
Lamoureux said Curling Canada has in-house expertise to help a struggling club improve its business model and operations.
“There’s all kinds of ways we can help,” said Lamoureux. “What makes me feel sad is when they pull the plug without ever asking for help.”
The reasons for closures are mostly financial, stemming from a combination of dropping memberships to aging icemaking equipment and buildings to high utility and insurance bills.
ICE CHIPS
The largest event of the Grand Slam curling season is on tap this week in Thunder Bay, Ont.
The Tour Challenge boasts a 60-team field — 30 men’s and 30 women’s teams — with round-robin play through Friday and the finals set for Sunday.