When Moose Jaw was announced as the host city for the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship, expectations from Curling Canada were high.
Moose Jaw had hosted a successful Canada Cup in 2012 and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts national women’s championships in 2015 and 2020, but this time Moose Jaw was on the world stage.
“It’s not like you’re starting from scratch like we have in some cities where you’re training basically from rank beginners. Moose Jaw, that’s a polished group,” said Al Cameron, director of communications and media relations with Curling Canada.
And Moose Jaw stepped up to the plate to exceed those high expectations from Curling Canada.
“It was a terrific event on and off the ice, but that goes part and parcel with the host committee, the volunteers, and the business community. They were all very, very supportive, and it couldn’t have gone any better from our perspective,” Cameron said.
Nearly 400 volunteers, along with the host committee, made this event happen. Before the championship, Curling Canada had predicted around 60,000 cumulative attendances throughout the week. The actual number, after it was all said and done, was over 77,000.
“We expected a good turnout. I don’t know that we expected that good of a turnout. Obviously, there’s clearly a market for watching the world championship in Moose Jaw,” said Cameron.
He added that there could have been a few factors as to why the attendance figures were higher than expected, including having a team from Alberta representing Canada. However, he felt the biggest factor was something else.
Even on the ice, the players had nothing but good things to say about Moose Jaw as the host. Team Canada skip Brad Jacobs described it as “something special,” and Cameron said the feedback from other teams was positive.
“They loved it, and you could hear that in Bruce Mouat’s voice as he was talking soon after winning the gold medal about just what a special experience it is for players to win a championship in Canada with that support. They just don’t get that kind of support outside of Canada, and it makes for a very special experience for every player coming into Canada to play in front of those kinds of crowds,” Cameron said.
What does this mean for future major curling events coming to Moose Jaw? In Cameron’s opinion, our city will definitely be in the discussion.
“It pretty much goes without saying that if Moose Jaw comes to the table down the road and wants to bid for another event, we’re going to be listening very, very closely to what they have to say, let’s put it that way,” Cameron commented.