Sudden cash sources a bit concerning
Everyone loves money. Who doesn’t? If reading this article got you a million dollars, it would be shared instantly on your Facebook feed and you and your friends would all buy jet skis. Alas, the most I can promise you is an interesting read about how curling is susceptible to corruption by deep pockets. So you will only become rich with insight.
Case in point: you may have read about LIV Golf, that new professional tour funded by the Saudi Arabian government, that pulled away several talented golfsters such as Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson for guaranteed money contracts, something the PGA just couldn’t match.
Even though my favorite golf venture is Holey Moley, the sheer thought of a sudden cash source monopolizing or poaching a set of athletes is a bit concerning. I don’t see the Saudi Arabian government pumping money into curling anytime soon, not after how the ice behaved in Vegas, but it could happen and at the very least is a lesson and reminder.
One of curling’s first glimpses at weird money entering the sport took place in the 1990s, when a person named Merv Bodnarchuk hired a professional team called the Anaheim Earthquake (featuring, at times, Ed Lukowich, Pat Ryan, Don Walchuk and Randy Ferbey), co-created a professional league, and tried to win a gold medal in the Olympics. Except it turned out he was more of a grifter than guard thrower.
But in terms of real efforts, we’ve seen the warning signs in our sport already. In recent years the Curling World Cup, a multinational event spread out over months, was largely financed by a company called Kingdomway, a nutrition supplement company in China, and they did not live up to their end of a contract which was supposed to pour $10 million into the sport. After one year into a four-year commitment, the money went away so the WCF had to make the event go away.
Then there was Russia and the Arctic Cup, a women’s ’spiel in Siberia, sponsored by Nornickel, a mining company with a reputation for being one of the world’s largest contributors to pollution. The initial prize purse was U.S. $100,000 (comparable to a Grand Slam), although its purse has since been decreased when it became a mixed doubles event. And with it being in Russia, who knows when we’ll see it come back.
That is not to say that curling should hold out for only the purest, most sensible corporations to sponsor them. Such money does not exist. But rather it should be wary of a sudden windfall. A large sum of money, as evidenced by LIV Golf, could influence the direction of a sport in a way that benefits the owners, not the sport, or the athletes, or the fans.
Perhaps it’s why we love seeing teams sponsored by grain silos.
Perhaps the ultimate reminder is, as always, that sponsorships with local businesses are paramount at the club and grassroots competitive level. It’s when the sport tries to grow vertically into big national/international events that the partnerships get a little murky.
At least Canada has secure commitments from Tim Hortons and Scotties. Honestly, it’s so ingrained in the culture that we never really think about the fact that the Scotties have in-ice logos for toilet paper, or that the Tims cups make perfect corner guard aids.
Those are our money goals. That and using our lottery winnings to build an eight-sheet club in our backyard.