CurlSask fee change sparks discussion
Curlers to be billed rather than the club
Amber Holland says she hasn’t received much feedback, good or bad, since CurlSask overhauled its fee structure late last month.
But she figures it will come once curling season draws closer.
Holland, CurlSask’s executive director, acknowledges there was “mixed reaction” when member clubs were told about the potential change this past winter. Clubs will no longer be billed based on population and the number of sheets. Now, membership fees will come from curlers themselves.
Each affiliated curler will pay $10 this coming season. Previously, clubs paid $205, $170 or $150 per sheet, depending on the population of their town or city.
“Some people didn’t understand why we’re going that direction; some did understand it,” Holland said Thursday. “Some agreed; some disagreed.
“It’s about the sustainability of curling into the future — ensuring all the members are investing equally into curling.”
Holland says the new model is expected to generate more revenue than the old, which will aid the association with cross-province programming. Several provinces draw fees from curlers rather than from clubs, and CurlSask looked at those models before proceeding with their own.
Some clubs look worriedly at what they say could become added administrative headaches, but after lots of discussion, delegates voted to adopt the new system during CurlSask’s annual general meeting.
“The face of curling will probably change, and we’ll have facilities that will probably close,” Holland said.
“That’s realistic to assume. We wanted to ensure our future in curling has everybody all in it, altogether — that everybody’s investing equally in curling, and that our organization can take a lead role in ensuring curling is healthy in this province.”
Clubs will collect the fees from curlers and pass them on to the association.
Holland says CurlSask currently has 152 affiliated rinks and 20,000 reported members, though there’s no way to tell right now if that latter number is accurate because of membership lists that aren’t always updated. The new structure will help them get a better handle on their overall numbers.
“For us, it’s looking into the future and making sure our model is sustainable regardless of how many physical curling facilities we have,” Holland said.
“Our benchmark is, we want to keep curlers. We need facilities — you can’t curl without ice — but we need the people to make that happen.”