Curling Canada says PointsBet Invitational could be revamped
Single-knockout event may be changed to provide more game reps
The quirky PointsBet Invitational that concluded Sunday in Calgary with Mike McEwen and Rachel Homan each picking up early-season cheques of $50,000 could be revamped, says Curling Canada chief executive officer Nolan Thiessen.
The PointsBet's hook is its single-knockout format, and the chance of a national club, junior, college, university or under-25 champion upsetting the top teams in Canada.
That happened in Calgary with Allyson MacNutt's junior team toppling four-time Canadian women's champ Kerri Einarson in the first round. In men's play, Jordan McDonald's under-25 foursome beat Matt Dunstone in the first round and defeated Kevin Koe in the quarterfinals.
However, with the 2025 Olympic trials on the horizon, Thiessen wonders if a cash tournament offering a maximum four games to a team over five days needs to provide more game reps.
"Next year's a really important year with the trials and preparing our teams," Thiessen said in Calgary. "The cool thing that we see here about the win-or-go home single elimination is that, 'Oh my goodness, my event might be over. It's the sixth end and I'm down two and my event might be over.'
"Creating that sense of urgency is a good thing, but also, we want to give our trials teams opportunities on arena ice in preparation for the trials. Are there games to be played so that they have more opportunities? Now is the time to look at it if we want to change something. After three years, you have a sample size."
WATCH | McEwen: 'It's probably one of the best Septembers I've had in my career':
The fourth edition of the PointsBet returns to Calgary from Sept. 30 to Oct. 5, 2025, followed by November's Olympic team trials in Halifax.
Southern Alberta's warm, sunny weather at the end of September wasn't conducive to a large fan turnout at WinSport Arena, which was barely half full during the five-day tournament.
The event served as a platform to launch a ticket-sale campaign for the Dec. 30-Jan. 4 Olympic mixed doubles trials in Liverpool, N.S., said Thiessen.
He added that televised curling early in the season gets people thinking about the sport and provides an interest kick for curling clubs, as well as for the national and world championships later in the season.
"It's a great time of year for a lot of those reasons," he said. "It's a poor time of year from a fan perspective, because we have a short summer in this country, and who wants to [go into an arena] when it's 20 degrees outside?'
"We want bums in the seats. We don't budget and plan for full buildings or best-case scenarios. We know this time of year, it's a struggle.
"It's a convoluted calendar. We work with World Curling and the Slams to try and not step on each other's toes. It would have to be next quad if we ever change the timing of this."
