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Jean-Michel Ménard airs concerns over changes in player treatment at The Brier; Curling Canada fires back
Jean-Michel Ménard has set tongues wagging in the world of Canadian curling, with a little literary strafing run at The Brier.
Strafing run might be a bit much, actually. His column on changes at the national men's curling championship reads more like a rueful walk down memory lane. However tame his intentions may or may not have been, Ménard's open letter to The Brier is being met with some pretty stern disappointment from the body that runs it - Curling Canada - and it's Chief Executive Officer, Greg Stremlaw.
"I think an overall reaction to Mr. Menard’s blog would be one of disappointment," wrote Stremlaw, in an e-mail, before proceeding to take on that blog in greater detail.
In a post on the "In The House" website, the 2006 Brier champ lays out concerns that he, as a player, has over some alterations instituted over the past few years.
Lamenting the loss of a laundry list of items, Ménard points out that things just ain't the same as they used to be for Brier competitors. Fewer hotel rooms for players, transportation cutbacks for players and their families, reduction in per diem stipends. Ménard is unhappy with all those developments and even raises objections to what he sees as an eroding of the event banquets and food services.
In general, Ménard is - as he puts it - "worried" about his relationship with The Brier, a competition in which he's skipped Team Québec eight times, including the 2015 edition, held in Calgary a month ago. While once wowed by being at The Brier, he's now concerned over some of the changes he says he's seen. "Now the event is looking more and more like your typical World Curling Tour weekend event," he writes.
He bemoans the dropping of players' per diems from $850.00 to $550.00 (for the week). He points out that, instead of six hotel rooms, teams now get four. He claims that team transportation considerations have been swept aside. From his blog:
Transportation: Until a few years back, every team had two drivers for the whole week, one driver for the team and a driver for the spouses and relatives. That was simply amazing and offered so much flexibility to team and family members. We also had the opportunity to develop a privileged relationship with our drivers. Now, we need to call a dispatch center to get a ride and family and spouses are on their own. With the dispatch center closing at midnight, I won’t even go on explaining how challenging it is to grab a cab when getting out of the Patch after midnight. I felt like Cinderella looking at the clock to make sure we got out of the building before midnight… When we arrived at the airport this year, my mom was traveling with us and the first thing she was told when arriving was: “Mam you’ll be on your own to get to the hotel”. What a great start to the event!!!
Ménard's tone in the column seems far from angry, far from abusive. It's polite, and perhaps benign. But, it can easily be taken as whining. Stremlaw and Curling Canada seem to view it as lacking in greater detail. From Stremlaw's e-mail:
There seems to be a lot of comments about Mr. Menard’s personal preferences and nothing about the experience for the fan; the ability to provide television to the country; sponsor fulfillment; volunteer appreciation; quality of icemaking; etc. In particular, there appears to be no realization that we are a business and tasked with the financial responsibility and stewardship of the sport as the sole governing body for curling in Canada.
Some of Ménard's points seem to be small potatoes, like the loss of a free daily newspaper outside his hotel door, or not having your team gear delivered to your room. Others are more substantial. Again, though, Ménard's protestations feel less an angry diatribe and more a looking back with a nostalgic yearning. And if we're being honest, none of us likes to have things taken away.
Stremlaw admits there have been changes to The Brier experience for the players, writing:
Have there been changes to the Brier over the years – absolutely.
I am not sure what business has not evolved to stay current and to manage its bottom line in a fiscally prudent manner. Sustainability is a key component of what we must ensure and therefore to blatantly disregard such would be fiscally and ethically irresponsible.
According to Stremlaw, Ménard's blog does not signal, to him, that there is a general disappointment among the players. He writes:
We met with our Operational Athlete Advisory Council in January and shared some of the changes and there was an appreciation that we have a business to run and that there were also some welcomed benefits of the increased athlete prize pool and cresting pool tied into a performance based athlete incentive system which were stated athlete priorities.
In other words, some of the perks of 'just being there' fell by the wayside in order to enable greater rewards for the teams that performed well. Winning the 2015 Brier got Team Canada - currently representing the country at the Worlds - $55,000.00 in prize money, another $20k in cresting cash and a chance at big dough (up $144,000.00 over a two year period) from Sport Canada.
Still, Curling Canada needs to be careful here, if Ménard's sentiments are widely held by the players at large. There doesn't seem to be a great deal of public criticism of how things have changed for players at The Brier, but that absence does not necessarily mean it isn't there. Perhaps we'll find out, depending on the reaction to Ménard's opinions over the next few days and weeks.
What Curling Canada cannot afford is a growing sentiment along the lines of Ménard's, in light of the growth of the rival Grand Slam of Curling. An erosion of the desire to play at a Brier would be a very bad thing as Curling Canada and Rogers Communications - owner of the The Slam - quietly duke it out over the players' affections. There's a peaceful coexistence right now, but not one without undertones and neither side would likely have more than a small objection to the other being weakened. Amidst whispers that Curling Canada was looking to add more events to its calendar, The Slam got the jump on them by adding new competitions, themselves, growing to 7 dates next season and 8 in 2016-17.
Paying attention to player concerns is pretty important. After all, that's what led to the creation of the Slam in the first place, when a band of like-minded brethren split off from Curling Canada (then the Canadian Curling Association) to go all WHA on them back in 2001.
Not that there's any immediate danger, it would seem.
However, one of Ménard's statements could provide a sense of deja vu for all involved.
"...when you consider how many people WE, the players are bringing into the arena...."
Sounds like sensibilities that were voiced fifteen years ago. Whether Jean-Michel Ménard's disappointment with his Brier experience is anything more than the expression of one man, we'll have to wait and see. Stremlaw seems certain in Curling Canada's position in the eyes of the players. Most of them, anyway. He writes:
Our High Performance department is in constant contact with our National Team Program teams in both genders (12 in total) and we continue to collect feedback and consult with athletes to try and afford the best possible solutions we can to our events. All that said, we will never make everyone happy as we can see from Mr. Menard’s blog comments. But, we do believe that we are being fair and reasonable, and that the product that we are working collaboratively with the athletes to afford the fans, is one which continues to be very good for all involved.
Tempest in a teapot? Or, thin edge of the wedge? One thing is for certain: Jean-Michel Ménard's Brier assessment has people talking.
