Ottawa to host Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in 2017

It's one of the very best curling competitions in the world and it's on its way to the nation's capital. Will it be part of a heady couple of sporting weeks in Ottawa?

Curling Canada has announced that the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, also known as The Roar Of The Rings, will be staged in the home of the NHL's Ottawa Senators, the Canadian Tire Centre, from December 2nd-10th, two months ahead of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, in South Korea.

As well, Curling Canada has announced that Summerside, Prince Edward Island, will play host to the "Road to the Roar," which is a pre-trial event held a month previous (November 6th-12th), to determine the final entries into The Trials.

Might make for a very busy time in Ottawa, if the Grey Cup Game is played there just a week before. There's been no official announcement as to which city will host the 2017 Grey Cup Game, but it is known there is a fair bit of support to hold it at TD Place Stadium, the home of the CFL's Redblacks, in the same year that Canada celebrates its 150th birthday.

Curling Canada claims they had a number of "superb bids" for The Trials, so why Ottawa and Summerside?

Summerside has shown its ability to hold big curling events at Credit Union Place, hosting the Grand Slam of Curling's Players' Championship in both 2012 and 2014.

Canadian Tire Centre is certainly big enough to house The Trials, though it is hard to say if the region will embrace it the way the city of Winnipeg did in 2013. Apart from having a big enough population base, you can be fairly assured that several levels of government believe it is a good idea to hold such a grand curling event in the capital, in 2017, for the same reasons they'd like to see the Grey Cup game there a week or two before.

As well, another consideration may be at play.

Ottawa will host the 2016 Brier (although not at Canadian Tire Centre). Shortly after that was announced, Curling Canada announced that the 2016 Continental Cup of Curling - held just a few weeks prior - would be played in Las Vegas. That must have chafed the Ottawa organizers a bit. When last the Continental Cup was held in Vegas, in 2014, it was a huge success. Many Canadians made the trek to see some curling and get the heck out from under another winter's oppression. Did they do that, instead of traveling to Kamloops to see the Brier? Certainly it was suspected that fans who would otherwise have travelled to British Columbia instead spent their money on a trip to Sin City. Kamloops' Brier attendance was dismal.

So, perhaps the assigning of The Trials, among the most fiercely contested, high quality curling competitions anywhere in the world, is a concession of sorts to Ottawa curling organizers who may well suffer more slowly clicking turnstiles at The Brier than they may have anticipated.

Manitoba's Team Mike McEwen and Alberta's Team Val Sweeting have already qualified for the 2017 Pre-Trials, each by winning titles at the 2014 Canada Cup. The winner of the 2013 trials (and 2014 Olympic gold medallist) team Jennifer Jones, of Manitoba, have also qualified, by virtue of their Scotties win, just over a week ago. The winner of this week's Brier will also qualify. All of them will have a chance to skip the Pre-Trials and go directly to The Olympic trials, in the two seasons ahead.

More big announcements of future curling events are coming. Both Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador are gunning for the 2017 Brier. The St. John's bid, led by Brad Gushue, got off the ground first. Last week, The Soo's bid, led by Brad Jacobs and his 2014 Olympic champion team, was launched. Both Team Gushue and Team Jacobs are among the favourites at this week's Brier, being held in Calgary.