Sudbury·New

Sault Ste. Marie vies for 2017 Brier men's curling championship

Sault Ste. Marie is bidding to host the 2017 Brier Canadian men's curling championship — and it's pre-selling tickets to make its case.
Skip Brad Jacobs is off to the 2015 Brier men's curling championship in Calgary from Feb. 28 to March 8. The Olympic gold medallist from Sault Ste. Marie hopes to compete at the Brier in his home town in 2017. (Photo by Trevor Hagan) (Getty Images)

Sault Ste. Marie is bidding to host the 2017 Brier Canadian men's curling championship — and it's pre-selling tickets to make its case. 

At Monday night's city council meeting, tourism executive director Ian McMillan said organizers are hoping to get as many curling fans as possible to put down a $50 dollar deposit toward Brier tickets.

"We just thought that this would be way that we would make our bid kind of stand out, instead of the standard bid, just saying 'Blah, blah, blah,' we want to show that we have our community behind us," he said.

St. John's, NL, is also vying to host the 2017 Brier. 

The Sault last hosted the Canadian men's curling championships in 1990. That year, the Northern Ontario rink was skipped by Al Harnden of Sault Ste. Marie, who is Brad Jacobs' uncle.

Here are Canadian curling stars Brad Jacobs and Ryan Harnden in the video launched Monday night for Sault Ste. Marie's Brier bid: