Rogers gets back into curling

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. 

Grand Slam gets life

According to Al Cameron in the Herald, Rogers Sportsnet will announce it’s getting back into the curling business.

There’s a presser called for 11 a.m. Thursday at which the sports broadcaster is expected to say it’s taking over the Grand Slam events.

George Karrys at The Curling News, says CBC is also involved to some extent.

One source told me that the plan will call for Sportsnet to air round-robin games with CBC stepping in to do the finals, much as in the old days of the Brier where TSN did the round robin and CBC the playoffs.

The news comes after a summer of negotiations between iSport and its head, Kevin Albrecht, and Sportsnet. It’s believed the WCT Players Association and Capital One, the series’ major sponsor, were also involved.

Multiple sources told me that Albrecht turned down at least one offer from Sportsnet earlier in the summer and was playing hardball with the property. Of course it’s rumoured that Albrecht’s firm was in financial distress stemming from a poorly attended music festival his company put on. CBC pulled the plug on the Grand Slam broadcasts last year after it said its bills weren’t being paid. Albrecht disputed those claims from CBC.

ISport did put the final Grand Slam event in Summerside, PEI on the air, using a makeshift crew and airing on Global TV. As well, while prize cheques were slow to arrive, all the players were paid.

If indeed this is the end of Albrecht’s association with curling, it will be after a long history of helping the players. When Albrecht was with IMG, he organized a large group of curlers into a de facto assocaition, which led to the famous boycott of the Brier. It was that move that created the Grand Slam (which was, coincidentally, aired on Sportsnet) as well as forcing the hand of the Canadian Curling Association to acquiesce to at least some player demands. But it’s clear he’s lost his way with those same players.

With Rogers taking over the Grand Slam, the curlers will get some stability and a company that can cross-promote it with other properties such as its radio network, website and Sportsnet magazine.

And with former TSN curling producers Keith Pelley and Scott Moore holding the two most senior positions in the media side of Rogers, it’s no surprise that curling joins the fold on Sportsnet. Whether it will be able to draw significant audiences is the next question to be asked. CBC curling audiences for the Grand Slam were good but as a major broadcaster, it could air a tiddlywinks championship and get a significant audience.

For the curlers, it’s a big relief. As one world-class player told me earlier this year, after all the work to create and establish the Grand Slam, to suddenly lose it would be a massive step backwards. That’s not to mention, as Cameron points out, the implications it would have on the Olympic Trial playdown process.

We’ll know more on Friday at 11. 

Curlers in Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

My good pal Bill Streeter is the type of guy curling needs. He was a tireless volunteer and wonderful promoter of the sport, and for the last four years, he’s been trying to get Ed Werenich into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. Bill has submitted his name and the required credentials to the committee but been snubbed. Or at least the Wrench has.
The latest came last week when the 2012 class was announced. I can assure you Werenich's failure to make it is not for lack of commitment on Bill’s part as the package submitted was thorough and comprehensive. I’m biased but Werenich’s record and his dominance of the game during his heyday is exceptional. I feel it’s deserving of a spot in the hall. However, the committee continues to choose not to give the Wrench the nod.
 So it got me thinking of just how many curlers are in the hall to begin with. As Bill pointed out in an email to me, the last male curler to be inducted was 21 years ago. That was Don Duguid. The last curler of any kind to go in was Sandra Schmirler’s team, that happening in 2000. That's 12 years ago.
Since Duguid’s induction, they’ve put in skaters and football players and soccer players and rowers and squash players and hockey players.
They’ve even put in a horse!
But no curlers.
Now part of this is likely due to the fact that no one goes to the trouble to nominate curlers, but with Werenich, that’s not the case. If you put what he accomplished up against the records of the athletes who have gone in over the last four years, it’s hard to understand why he failed to get the necessary votes.
 Here’s a look at who did the voting: 2012 Selection Committee
1. Ian Bird.
2. Marnie McBean.
3. Scott Moore.
4. Steve Armitage.
5. Sylvie Bigras.
6. Stephen Brunt.
7. Craig Button.
8. Bruce Dowbiggin.
9. Bruce Kidd.
10. Francois Mosher.
11. Dave Randorf.
12. Francois Messier.
Of these, the only one I know who would have any love of curling would be Scott Moore, who once produced TSN’s coverage.
The hall has a heavy lean towards Olympic athletes. Of the six athletes who made the grade for the class of 2012, five made their mark as Olympians. You could actually say all six did because hockey’s Scott Niedermeyer is a two-time gold medalist.
It’s tough for a curler from the pre-Olympic years.
The only curlers in the hall of fame are Matt Baldwin, Ron Northcott, Ernie, Arnold and Sam Richardson, the Schmirler team, Duguid and Howard “Pappy” Wood.
I would have to say that curling is sorely lacking. Obvious names to be considered would be Russ and Glenn Howard, Kevin Martin and Colleen Jones.

Anchorman 2

Sorry but couldn't resist this. News is there will be an Anchorman 2, which reminded me of the time Ron Burgundy tried out for SportsCentre. Here's the tape:

Grand Slam moves to Global

After failing to get the last Grand Slam of Curling on the air, iSport Media has inked a deal with Shaw Media (Global) to show both the men’s and women’s finals from the Players Championship in Summerside, PEI.

“We’re excited,” said Kevin Albrecht, the head of iSport. “It’s one of the major networks in Canada.”

The Grand Slam events had been on CBC TV up until this year, but the broadcaster pulled the plug at the end of January just days before The National in Dawson Creek, B.C.

The year’s final and the tour’s biggest event will now air on Global from coast to coast.

Unlike the previous arrangement, iSport is producing the broadcast itself, hiring Aquila Productions out of Edmonton to run things. Veteran producer Curtis Saville will handle the production.

“This will give us a chance to try some of the things we’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Albrecht said. “It’s really a great opportunity to really showcase the curlers.”

Two thirds of the announcing crew has been confirmed. The legendary Don Duguid will be back on the air alongside Olympic silver medalist Cheryl Bernard to provide colour commentary. A play-by-play person is still to be finalized but Albrecht said a decision on that will be made soon.

Albrecht said that so far, this show on Global is a one-time affair, but he’s hoping to talk with the network about continuing next year. He said that Global likes the combination of curling with PGA Tour coverage that it already has.

As for the struggles with CBC, Albrecht said that not much has happened on that front as both sides continue to disagree. 

Brier TV numbers

Curling continues to provide huge numbers for TSN, putting it on the same level as the network’s coverage of CFL and NHL.

This year’s Brier final between Ontario and Alberta drew an audience of 1,135,000, just ahead of the women’s final. I actually would have expected a slightly larger audience considering a team from audience-rich Ontario was in the mix.

The preview show (which was very well done, I thought), had an audience of 408,000, also a solid number.

The bronze medal game had 330,000 viewers, which is large considering it was on TSN2, the network that doesn’t have nearly the reach of TSN. The women’s bronze game picked up 630,000 but it was on the main network.

Some final Brier thoughts

Final Brier Thoughts:

*** 

When I asked Glenn Howard at the start of the year what the difference in having Wayne Middaugh in the lineup compared to Richard Hart, he said that it might be Middaugh’s ability to through the high, hard one. That was clear in the final (and all week really) as Middaugh used that weapon time and again to rid the house of Alberta stones. Taking nothing away from Hart, but I don’t think many people throw takeouts as hard and as accurately as Middaugh.

***

A few records were broken with yesterday’s win. First up was Middaugh, who became the first person to win the Brier at three different positions. He also became the fourth curler to win a Brier at skip and then a subsequent Brier at a lower position (joining Howard “Pappy” Wood Sr., Jimmy Congalton and Pat Ryan). And, to me the most impressive, Howard now has the mark for longest time between Brier victories – 25 years. Talk about longevity.

***

I’m not saying that the players don’t take the bronze medal game that seriously but the Tweet from Jamie Koe about his participation in the ridiculous game between Y/NWT and Manitobat says it all:

“Lost bronze medal game on #45 min of sleep. Guess I needed an hour.” 

Unless the CCA wants to move to a true playoff system of two semi-finals and a final, the bronze medal game is nothing but a cash-grab (even if they tell me it’s not, which they have).

***

I remember when Wayne Middaugh was coming up as a top-flight junior and earned the name as Quick Draw Middagh for how fast he played. Last night it seemed there were times he was already in his delivery motion before the other team’s rocks had come to rest. Gotta love that don’t ya?

***

I just don’t understand how Kevin Koe’s squad managed to end up with bad rocks in a final. When you have all the stats about rock performance during the week, can take stones from any sheet and have the ability to match stones in practice how do you end up with duds as Pat Simmons did yesterday? In my humble opinion, that was a significant factor in the result yesterday. I’d love to know if there was a reason this happened. It just seems so strange that you’d think there’s more to the story.

***

So was the game last night a classic? No, not really. The performance of the Howard team was jaw-dropping and the misses by Koe’s foursome stunning and unexpected, but this was a pretty one-sided game despite the final score. I give Koe credit for getting to the final stone. It will be remembered for just how amazing the Howard team played, lead through skip. And it will be remembered for Howard and Middaugh getting their fourth Brier wins, tying them with the great Richardsons.