KAMLOOPS NAMED HOST OF 2014 BRIER

Canadian men’s championship returns to province after 18- year absence, while Curl BC announces 10- year deal for television coverage

Believing it had been “way too long” since the Tim Hortons Brier had been in B. C., an organizing group in Kamloops has successfully convinced the Canadian Curling Association to return the national men’s championship to the Interior in 2014.

Kamloops was the last B. C. city to host the Brier in 1996.

It will become the third twotime host in the province after Vancouver ( 1950, 1978) and Victoria ( 1958, 1984).

“This is an event that has tremendous tradition and it’s an event that needs to move around, needs to come to all areas of the country to keep that cachet alive,” Norm Daley, the organizing chair for the 2014 Brier said in an interview after Tuesday’s announcement in Kamloops.

It was the second major curling announcement in B. C. on the day, with Sportsnet and Curl BC confirming a 10- year deal to begin coverage of the semifinals and finals of the provincial men’s and women’s championships, plus the junior finals, beginning in 2014.

Sportsnet also announced similar deals with the Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario curling associations.

Kamloops has a rich history with curling, noted Daley, having hosted the 1998 world championships and the first six Canada Cup events from 2003 to 2008. “This is another great opportunity for the community to show what it can do.”

The event will be held in the 6,000- seat Interior Savings Centre, one of the smallest facility to host a Brier. The 2013 Brier will be held in the 15,000- seat Rexall Centre in Edmonton.

“We never really came out and said we would not go to a smaller building, it’s just that the financial circumstances would have to be right,” said Warren Hansen, marketing and media director for the CCA. “Because of the agreements and arrangements, ( Kamloops) has created a situation to the point where it makes financial sense.”

The provincial government and B. C. Lottery Corp., are each contributing $ 100,000, with Tourism Kamloops and the city, which is providing the arena rent free, each contributing $ 50,000.

“Kamloops has always been about finding ways to make these things work,” said Daley. Hansen said he’s confident that with the anticipated sellouts and a robust Brier Patch social zone, the CCA should realize close to its average Brier profit of about $ 1 million.

Hansen and Curl BC CEO Scott Braley also said the fact 2014 is an Olympic year and the Olympic trials in December, 2013, will be held in a fullsized hockey arena in Winnipeg made it easier to put the Brier in a smaller venue.

Braley said the Brier announcement and the news that the provincial championships will now be shown on Sportsnet Pacific is “a real boost for curling, not only in Kamloops but around the province.”

He noted that Shaw, which has broadcast the last few provincials and will do so again in 2013, was getting close to 300,000 viewers for the men’s and women’s finals.

“Those are excellent numbers and we expect to only go up with Sportsnet. They were keen to show curlers on their way to the Scotties ( the women’s nationals) and the Brier, and when you look on our women’s side the last few years, with former world champions like the Kellys ( Scott and Law) playing off, it doesn’t get any better than that for provincial championships.”