Winnipeg ponies up $1 million for Olympic trials

Winnipeg showed the Canadian Curling Association the money and earned the opportunity to play host to the 2013 Canadian Olympic curling trials.

Greg Stremlaw, chief executive officer of the CCA, officially announced that Winnipeg would be the fifth Canadian centre to play host to the trials Wednesday. Winnipeg landed the trials by guaranteeing a $1 million hosting fee. It’s the largest

hosting fee put forward by a host committee for any CCA event.

"It says a lot," Stremlaw said when asked about the hosting fee. "It shows that we have an attractive asset. We took it out to tender and we had six formalized bids from across the country. Between the fan base, sponsorship and brand exposure . . . the Tim Hortons Roar of Rings is significant."

Winnipeg, Ottawa and Saskatoon were the finalists to play host to the trials. Winnipeg’s bid exceeded those submitted by Ottawa and Saskatoon. The minimum for hosting bids was $750,000.

"Ottawa had a fantastic bid and they were given some serious consideration," Stremlaw said. "Winnipeg has a great proven track record and also had a professional bid. We did a formal request for proposals and that’s something we’re trying to take forward. There aren’t many of requests for proposals that exist in the sports market place."

Jerry Shoemaker and Barry Whitehouse, co-chairs of the Saskatoon trials bid, are in London as members of the host committee for the 2012 Brier. Saskatoon was awarded the men’s curling championship in December. Shoemaker said their trials bid was serious despite the proximity to the Brier.

"It just seemed like a great event," Shoemaker said.

"We know that has happened to the trials since it started and it’s an event that Saskatoon has always wanted. We also understood that having it that close to the Brier was not a plus for us. We were interested and we wanted to make sure that the CCA knows that we were interested in it. If we got it, we would have hosted it."

Shoemaker added that Saskatoon plans to bid on the 2017 Olympic trials.

The 2013 trials in Winnipeg are to be held Dec. 1-8, at the 15,000-seat MTS Centre.

Eight men’s and eight women’s teams are to take part in the trials. The trials have been held in Brandon, Man., (1997), Regina (2001), Halifax (2005) and Edmonton (2009).

The 2013 pre-trials are to be held Nov. 6-10 at a site yet to be determined. Stremlaw said that bids for the pre-trials should be submitted to the CCA by May 13.

The 2009 pre-trials were held in Prince George, B.C. Twelve men’s and 12 women’s teams are to take part in the pre-trials with two of each gender advancing to the full trials.

Edmonton’s Kevin Martin and Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard won the 2009 men’s and women’s trials, respectively. Martin went on to win a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Bernard finished with a silver medal.

"We wanted to capitalize on that momentum," Stremlaw said. "We would have been foolish not to try and do that. We have been leveraging the 2010 program for the last year to build off that. The timing is right. We’re getting to the day and age where these things are such big business entities, that the more advanced notice one can have, the more planning we can do."

The winners are to represent Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.