Grand Slam of Curling: Can Toronto become a lynchpin destination?

The Players' Championship just might have found a permanent home in Toronto.

“I think it’s a good possibility,” said Pierre Charette, a few hours after Brad Jacobs and Eve Muirhead had skipped their teams to titles at what used to be Maple Leaf Gardens.

Charette, president of the World Competitive Curlers Association, had just been asked whether the city might become a permanent, yearly stop on the Pinty's Grand Slam circuit.

There has been no announcement along those lines, but it will not be a surprise if Toronto becomes a featured destination on the tour, be it as the ongoing home of the Players' or of a new event being introduced next season, the year-ending Champions Cup.

Flush with the success of this year's Players', Charette, for one, is intent on making it a curling fan's travel destination, along the lines of yearly Brier and Scotties sabbaticals.

“We’re just touching the tip of the iceberg here,” said Charette, enthused by the increased crowd numbers coming through the turnstiles in Toronto this year. While no exact attendance figures were released, according to Sportsnet/Rogers (owners of the tour) the event saw a 25% increase in attendance over 2013, when The Players' was first held at Mattamy (capacity 2,539).

With The Slam growing to seven events next season and then eight the year after that, a series that was almost dead in the water in 2012 is now flourishing with increased prize money, more television coverage and greater and greater relevance. The road ahead could pass through Toronto on an annual basis.

Charette believes it's the way to go.

“I’m a firm believer that if we have a site where we keep coming back to, it’s going to get even bigger in the sense that people will put that in their calendar and make it to Toronto for April,” he said.

Organizers may be on to something and that something could be fed some more marketing and promotional fuel. Charette, who also works in the travel agency business, sees a spring stop in Toronto as a potential curling fan magnet and is hopeful of putting together tourist packages for next year.

The month of April seems a good fit for curling tourists for a number of reasons. Hotel prices are, generally, cheaper as the city's off-season for tourism has just ended and peak season doesn't arrive until June. April might often feature grey drizzle in Toronto, but it's still Toronto. People might grouse about "the centre of the universe" but they still like to visit, and a curling trip can always include live theatre, shopping, a baseball game and maybe even a little golf, if you're lucky.

In attempting to grow the Players' Championship into a bigger and bigger event, Charette maintains that it has advantages over The Scotties or The Brier.

“If you go to a Bier and you want to take in the whole event, you’re away for ten days," he said. It’s ten nights of hotel rooms. The tickets are much more expensive. And it’s not always the best field in the world as far as the curling is concerned."

"Now people can come to a Players’ Championship and it lasts about half the time - it’s a five day event (six, actually, when you factor in the Tuesday night opening draw) - and you see the best curling in the world.”

On that last point, some might argue, but Charette is on solid ground. While a Brier or Scotties will generally feature no more than a half dozen of the best teams in the world, and a World Championship is left without the depth that more Canadian elite teams would bring, The Players' Championship gets the best of both worlds. Featuring the season's 24 top performing teams - no matter their place of origin - does provide it with the deepest field in curling.

What The Brier and Scotties have are history as well as provincial and territorial battles. They are much loved and attempting to get The Players' to be seen as a tournament of equal value to curling fans will take more hard work and time. That the work is paying off, so far, is evident in Toronto. When first held at Mattamy in 2013, The Players' Championship had smaller crowds and a smaller sponsor presence. A walk through the venue in 2015, even during a mid-week draw, revealed much more sponsor signage and more people in the seats.

That may have been due, in part, to the low prices attached to those seats.

"Tickets are much less expensive, for now, anyways," said Charette, comparing the cost to a Scotties or Brier package. "We want to create a demand and make sure that people catch on that this is the best curling that you’ll ever watch.”

He was enthused about how it all worked out, last week.

“It was awesome,” he gushed. “We were sold out on Saturday. Sunday I thought the crowd was amazing considering we had The Masters on and everything.”

That success seems to have Toronto poised to take its place on tour on an ongoing basis.

Not the only reason, however. There's another important consideration as to why a city that hasn't hosted a Brier since 1941 or a Scotties, ever, has gotten a curling spotlight cast upon it.

“The players love this place,” said Charette.

“The facility has a lot to do with it," he continued, before adding matter of factly:

"It’s Toronto. Great restaurants. There’s obviously a lot to do in Toronto, a lot to see.”

Including even more curling, perhaps.