The Lethbridge Curling Club is working to bring another large sporting event to the city. Representatives made a presentation to the city’s economic standing policy committee last week, looking for a letter of support and funding for a bid to host the 2025 Olympic curling trials.
“Curling trials, also known as the Roar of the Rings, have been held every four years since 1997, crowning a men’s and women’s national representative to wear the maple leaf at the Olympics the following year,” said Mike Mulroy, co chair of the club’s committee working on the bid, adding Saskatoon was the most recent host. “Lethbridge would be the only city on this list that would not only have hosted the trials, but every other curling championship in the sport of curling. We understand that we are here quickly on the heels of the Brier but the calendar is really the driver of this event and the ability to be able to participate in it as a host.”
The club asked for $900,000, which would be spent after the event, only if the bid is successful. The money would come from a city grant set up for supporting event hosting — currently there is $1.77 million in the budget for the four years of the city’s budget cycle, according to city treasurer Darrel Mathews. The event, if approved, would take about 90 per cent of the grant’s budget.
“I look at this outlay right now of pretty much every cent we have budgeted over the next four years for any other major event and that does cause me some concern, I do like to be much more strategic and not be first past the post and winner take all,” said Councillor Jeff Carlson.
Carlson questioned how the event would compare the Brier curling championships the city hosted in 2022.
“For a lot of people in the curling community, it is bigger — it’s the only Curling Canada event of this type that has both men’s and women’s teams competing at the same venue, so it’s a combination that you don’t see anywhere else,” said Kirk Mearns from the Lethbridge Curling Club. “It is a very special event. It determines who our Olympic qualifiers will be, it determines who is going to go to France and curl for Canada.”
The club has support from Curling Alberta, The Enmax Centre, the Servus Sport Centre, Tourism Lethbridge and Lethbridge Sport Council for the bid. If successful, the Enmax and Servus Sport Centre will be host venues.
The committee carried a motion unanimously to recommend city council allocate the money and provide the letter of support. Mearns said the deadline for the bid is June 30 and the host city will be finalized by November this year.
