Hours after the world women’s curling championship was canceled, just two days before the tournament was to begin, a group of local curlers and volunteers gathered on the arena ice at CN Centre to let a few rocks fly in a mini-bonspiel.
Joined by Kerri Einarson’s Team Canada rink and the team from the Czech Republic, it was a chance for them to vent their frustrations after being shut down before they even began.
Ultimately, it was the right decision for the World Curling Federation to pull the plug and cancel the event to minimize the risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, but it left everybody connected to the nine-day tournament with a sick feeling of utter disappointment.
For Glen Mikkelsen, vice-chair of the host committee and CN Centre general manager, seeing brooms in motion that night for the only curling action that would happen on that finely-pebbled arena ice was like watching a wake for an all-too-soon departed soul.
Days after the decision was made he was still fighting back tears when he thought about the hundreds of volunteer hours and super-human efforts it took to try to make the biggest curling event the city’s history a possibility.
“It’s heartbreaking, to be part of something for 2 ½ years and to get so close to really being ready to roll it out,” said Mikkelsen. “Then with circumstances changing around the globe that needed to be responded to it was hard to just see it coming apart before our eyes.
“Walking out that night it was eerie. We were supposed to be having this great opening banquet with people from around the world and volunteers from all over Canada to celebrate this great event and it was eerily quiet. There was hardly a car moving in the parking lot and the north wind was howling down.
“It turned around so fast. It’s honestly like a grieving process.”
In January 2018, Mikkelsen was one of the prime movers and shakers behind the Prince George bid to host the 2019 Brier Canadian men’s curling championship. Kingston, Ont., won that bid but Prince George made the short-list. The push to bring the women’s curling world to P.G. was launched in the fall of 2018 and was confirmed Feb. 5, 2019 when it was announced the city had won the bid.
That set into motion a coordinated effort from the host committee working closely with Curling Canada and the World Curling Federation to line up sponsors and tap the City of Prince George, Tourism Prince George, Regional District of Fraser-Fort George and the provincial government for additional support
The ice was ready and the infrastructure was in place less than two days before the Saturday, March 12 opening draw, with 380 volunteers who each paid $100 to join the host organization all set to go about their tasks when the word came down that it wasn’t going to happen.
No doubt it was an opportunity lost for the local tourism industry hoping for an immediate cash infusion and in the longterm capitalize on the TV coverage of the championship to create awareness of the city for international visitors. TSN was prepared to provide 50 hours of live network coverage. Had Canada made it to the final, that game would likely have been seen by six million Canadians. World Curling Television had a 75-hour schedule lined up with a potential viewing audience of 86 million in 47 countries.
The City of Prince George logo painted prominently on all four rinks would have had 160 rocks pass over it each game for those millions of viewers around the world to see on their screens.
Curling Canada was prepared to pour $1 million into the event and some of that money did benefit local businesses. Technicians arrived a week early to make the ice and set up audio-video connections. Construction crews built the scaffolding for the media/officials area at the end of the rink and set up temporary rooms underneath the stands for coaches and officials. City staff worked long days to convert Kin 1 arena, which was to be used as the site of The Patch, the traditional entertainment venue to keep curling fans occupied between draws.
Ticket sales were on pace to match the 69,000 people Lethbridge drew to the 2019 World Men’s Curling Championship and there would have been between 2,500 and 3,000 hotel-room stays with officials, curlers, sponsors and fans spending an average $500 per day. Tourism Prince George estimates the nine-day tournament would have provided an economic boost of between $4 million and $5 million for hotels, restaurants, stores, taxis, bars and other service-industry businesses in the city.
The WCF did make it known that Prince George will be strongly considered as a potential host for a future international curling event but Mikkelsen said it’s too early to speculate if that will indeed happen.
“I’m hopeful, he said. “I’ve personally put so much energy into it, it’s going to take a little bit to regroup and go ahead with something new. I certainly feel the city of Prince George, volunteers, government, the facilities, demonstrated we’re certainly capable of putting on an event of this calibre and I think that’s put us in good stead for future consideration.
“Many volunteers have come up to me and said already how interested they would be on participating again if something else comes down the road and that’s very encouraging to hear. We’ve got volunteers who have gone through a training process and we’re that much wiser and prepared to do something similar to continue to bring events of this calibre in whatever sport to Prince George. ”
The worldwide domino effect of canceled or postponed sporting and entertainment events due to the coronavirus pandemic has continued the past two weeks and Mikkelsen, in his job trying to fill CN Centre’s calendar, knows that will continue until the threat subsides.
Cirque du Soleil’s Axel, a seven-performance spectacle on ice scheduled for June 25-28 has been canceled. The Alice Cooper concert originally planned for CN Centre on April 16 has been postponed to the fall, as has Northern FanCon. The three-day entertainment expo, originally scheduled for May 8-10, has been moved to Sept. 25-27.
