The people of Kamloops love the sport of curling, and they love attracting hordes of visitors even more.
From March 1 to 9, 2014, they'll get the best of both worlds when the Canadian men's curling championship - the Tim Hortons Brier - comes to Kamloops.
More than 100 curling enthusiasts cheered and celebrated the news at the Interior Savings Centre on Tuesday before lining up to have their photos taken with the coveted 85-yearold Brier Tankard.
The 2014 Brier will be the first one to include a Team sa国际传媒 in its field - the winner of the 2013 Brier will be designated Team sa国际传媒 and awarded a berth in the 2014 championship. As well, the 2014 Brier winner will move on to the Ford World championship that is expected to be played in China.
The Brier is mostly held in larger venues - the 2013 event will be held March 2-10 in Edmonton's 16,839-seat Rexall Place. The Interior Savings Centre has the capacity for 5,500. Despite the smaller venue, the event's success is assured thanks to a combined $200,000 from the provincial government and the BCLC and an additional combined $100,000 from the City of Kamloops and Tourism Kamloops, said Hansen.
"The financial things that we needed to put in place to make it feasible were done," Warren Hansen, the Canadian Curling Association's director of events, said. "As a result we feel this event can be quite successful."
The Brier has also seen smaller crowds over the past four years or so as a result of a weaker economy.
"In 1996, the tickets were sold out a year ahead time; that used to be the way the Brier went," Hansen said. "I don't think we expect to sell this out way ahead of time."
But he still encouraged people to purchase tickets ahead of time, saying he doesn't think there will be many "extra" tickets.
Norm Daley, organizing chair for the 2014 Brier and managing partner of the Kamloops accounting firm Daley and Company, got the ball rolling with a phone call to Hansen two years ago.
That was shortly after Kamloops lost the bid for the 2015 sa国际传媒 Winter Games, which are to be held in Prince George.
"It wasn't nice being in the loser cruiser, I can tell you," said Daley of the drive home from the Winter Games announcement.
That's when the idea to play host to the Brier arose.
"That's what we do; we continually go for events like this," said Kamloops mayor Peter Milobar.
In return for its hosting duties and financial support, the city expects to receive millions of dollars worth of exposure and visitor dollars.
TSN will televise 60 hours of the competition and vignettes about Kamloops.
"The television coverage will mean valuable exposure for the region and the tens of thousands of visitors will make a real difference for local businesses and families," said Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Kevin Krueger.
