Yesterday’s announcement that Rogers was buying the Grand
Slam of Curling had to be good news for the curling community. For the past
year, the Slams were on thin ice, before finally crashing through just prior to
the third leg in Dawson Creek. That’s when the CBC pulled the plug on
broadcasting the event and the curling world learned what most of the
competitors, sponsors and those close to the championships had been dealing
with for most of that year: the Grand Slams were in a dire financial situation.
I am still talking to folks today about the background on
that part of the story and I’ll save that for another day.
Today, however, is about a new life for the Slams and it
comes with the backing of one of the largest players in sports media. It’s
important to remember that not only is Sportsnet broadcasting the Grand Slams .
. . It Now Owns Them! It will operate the event on all levels, from putting in
the ice to selling tickets to awarding the prize money.
And it will show a lot more of the games than ever before.
Across its various platforms, Sportsnet will show two to three draws a day of
each Slam, handing off the final and possibly semi-final to CBC. That's likely because Sportsnet would already have weekend commitments with higher-profile sporting events.
For Sportsnet, it gets some much-needed daytime content and
ownership of a significant property. Live televised sports is like gold for
broadcasters. In a world where so few shows are actually watched live, where
DVR penetration is in excess of 35 per cent and where On-Demand is so
prevalent, sports is a shining light. It’s why rights fees command big bucks.
For the curlers, it’s a big sigh of relief. Brent Laing, who
was at the presser yesterday, told me that when he stepped off the ice at last
year’s Players Championship, he was pretty worried about the future of the
Grand Slams. Rightly so. The players had much more intimate knowledge of the
financial situation and were briefed often by WCT president Pierre Charette
(who should be given huge credit for not only keeping last year on the rails,
but moving this year forward).
Kevin Martin, who was also in the room at Real Sports
yesterday, said he wasn’t worried because he knew the Grand Slams were a good
property. Still, curlers aren’t the best at running their own show and without
a major player to organize things, it’s likely the Slams would have been dead
if Rogers or a similar outfit didn’t take hold.
The details on the first year are still unfolding. According
to Scott Moore, this deal was in the works at different levels for some time
but really didn’t get hot until the last two weeks or so. Understandably,
details such as arenas and dates aren’t firmed up with the exception of the
first stop, the Sun Life event in Brantford.
This is about the only part of the deal that I think is
lousy. Essentially, the first Slam is an existing event, and a good one at
that. So there’s one less stop on the World Curling Tour for this year.
The second event is still up in the air and all we know
about the third event is that it will be held in downtown Toronto. Moore said
negotiations are on-going but not to the point where he can make any kind of
announcement. The rumour has it going into the old Maple Leaf Gardens, which is
now the home of Ryerson University’s hockey teams.
Each event will have a minimum of $100,000 purse and the
first and third will have both men’s and women’s events at the same time.
With all the good news, it’s important to remember that
there are still a lot of fall out from the previous regime. People and
companies weren’t paid for their work on the Slams last year. While the players
got their cheques (eventually), some folks were left empty, some folks who
can’t really afford to lose that kind of money and some folks who were good for
curling.
But overall, it has to be a good day for curling.
A few final notes:
* Dave Tredgett, who will produce the broadcasts for
Sportsnet, said he hasn’t decided on a broadcast team yet but has some ideas in
place. Here's hoping Mike Harris is part of that new team.
* There will be 34 men’s and 34 women’s teams at the Brantford
event.
* Charette said he hopes the year’s first event will be held
in the same location every year (i.e. Brantford), just like golf’s Masters, and use it as a kick
off to the season.
* Moore added that in future years, he’d love to see four or
eight or even more events on the Sportsnet schedule.
* Even Bob McCown showed up for the press conference. The high-profile
radio talk show host has been known to throw a few rocks now and then.
