Ready for return to centre stage

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/11/2010 (5434 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We no longer hold the biggest curling events in the world, but we still hold our own — and then some — in the curling world.

And so don’t be surprised if Winnipeg wins the high-stakes competition underway to see which city gets to host the 2013 Canadian Curling Trials, the event that will determine Canada’s men’s and women’s reprsentatives for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

The deadline for formal bids for that event came and went on Nov. 15 and the Canadian Curling Association is refusing to say anything about the bids, including the number they received.

But here’s what we do know:

— Winnipeg submitted what sources say is a “very competitive” bid in comparison to the others;

— There were at least five other cities considering bids — Calgary, Saskatoon, Hamilton, Ottawa and St. John’s, N.L.

Now, I know Calgary decided not to bid. And neither did Edmonton, host of the 2009 Trials, for that matter.

I don’t know which of the other four cities mentioned above actually submitted formal bids. What is clear, though, is there would be issues with each one of them hosting the Trials.

Saskatoon, for starters, would be an odd selection, given that they’re already hosting the Brier in 2012. Hamilton is a curling backwater that has already hosted a disastrous Brier and world championships. Ottawa couldn’t fill the 9,800-seat Civic Centre for the 2001 Brier and a Trials would be dwarfed in the 20,500-seat Scotiabank Place, which is the site being contemplated. And Mile One Centre in St. John’s has the opposite problem — way too small at 6,200 seats.

Put all of it together and it says here that in that group of cities, anyway, Winnipeg would appear to have, by far, the most credible claim to host the Trials.

Now understand, Canadian Curling Association CEO Greg Stremlaw never used those words yesterday. Indeed, the professionalization — and profitability — of the CCA that has marked Stremlaw’s reign as CCA poobah has the Trials bidding process playing out in unusual confidentiality.

But what Stremlaw did have to say yesterday, particularly about Winnipeg, was at least as interesting as what he didn’t say about the Trials bids. Because while acknowledging the obvious — that Winnipeg no longer draws the biggest attendances to major curling events — Stremlaw also noted that this city retains some unique attributes that still make us a very desirable location for the CCA.

And so the notion that Winnipeg ain’t what it used to be when it comes to hosting big curling events? Forget about it, says Stremlaw.

“I don’t think that’s accurate at all,” said Stremlaw. “That may be a perception there locally, but it’s certainly not the position of the Canadian Curling Association.

“Our organization regards Winnipeg among the elite hosting communities in the country. While some people might point to where the highest attendance marks might be — and you’re right, there are some fantastic locations for doing that — there’s also a lot more to hosting an event then simply bums in seats.

“Obviously, that’s critical to an event’s success. But there’s a lot of other advantages to Winnipeg: it’s centrally located for all the stakeholders in the country; accessibility; the Convention Centre; the MTS Centre is a beautiful building; hotels that are all within walking distance; a passionate fan base; the provincial success of all your men’s and women’s curlers over the years.

“All those things to me dictate to me that Winnipeg is a great host location. So while I understand that you haven’t drawn the same attendance as some of these other events, that’s OK. I wouldn’t read too much into that or think that puts Winnipeg in a different stratosphere.”

What’s more, Winnipeg also has perhaps the best closer in the entire arena bookings game in Kevin Donnelly, the general manager of the MTS Centre and a man who has turned our little arena into one of the premier sites for major events in all of North America.

On top of that, Donnelly likes curling — he brought the Grand Slam and the 2008 Brier here — and that’s an important factor right now. Because while all the bids have now been formally submitted, Stremlaw said deals with arenas would still need to be negotiated before a winner will be announced, sometime in February or March.

The CCA is looking for a guaranteed profit of at least $750,000 from the 2013 Trials and it’s possible some free-spending province — hello, Newfoundland — might have made a sweeter bid than Winnipeg to try and buy a Trials.

But it’s hard to imagine anyone will out-negotiate Donnelly on the huge arena rental agreement that also must go alongside a bid.

It’s been a while since Winnipeggers could rightly call ourselves the Centre of the Curling Universe. And it might never entirely be true again.

But for 10 days in December 2013 — at a bonspiel that is second in importance only to the Olympics themselves — we just might take centre stage one more time.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca