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Nolan’s Notes: Players have their say at summit

By Nolan Thiessen

If you follow many curlers on social media then you probably saw some chatter near the end of July about the Players Summit with Sportsnet. I was chosen to be the representative for Team Morris (yes that still feels a little weird to write) to attend the meetings.

There were a few misconceptions by outsiders about what these meetings meant. Some thought we were meeting to fix the game of curling as a whole. I think that is the stigma that gets attached to the word “summit” after Hockey Canada got everyone together in the late ’90s to fix hockey because they got shut down by a hot goalie in a one-game playoff (maybe we let Wayne Gretzky have a chance in the shootout and we save everyone the time and headache and save the world from disgrace … but I digress).

We met in Toronto not to change curling but to discuss the Grand Slam of Curling as a property. Sportsnet owns these events and they want to ensure the success of their property so they enlisted the help of the people who also have a significant stake in the success of the GSOC: the athletes. You hear us talk continuously about our love of the Grand Slams and most people associate that with cash. That is hardly the case though; competing for money is great but only a minor part of the draw of the GSOC. The opportunity to play against the best on that big of a stage, multiple times a year, pays dividends down the road.

I have said numerous times previously that although my former team had not won a Grand Slam event before we broke through at the 2010 Brier (in fact we were sporting a sparkling 0-6 record in Slam finals at that time) we would never have been able to put ourselves in the position to win a Brier without the GSOC. The Grand Slams provide teams with the chance to compete against the best in the world four times a year (this year five and hopefully even more in the coming seasons) in high-pressure events.

Much smarter people than me have written about this idea in the past, but having success at anything in life is all about repetition. That is one of the beauties of the GSOC for teams, especially young teams. They get multiple chances a year to test themselves under real fire. Those reps enable piece of mind when they find themselves in future major events with championships on the line, they have been in the pressure cooker before. If teams only had the Brier each year to test themselves, then those reps are only available to two teams. The GSOC extends those opportunities to more teams.

It was also nice to see Sportsnet not just make unilateral changes to these events and then pass them onto the curlers. The players have always had a say in the way the series looks and acts, so it is nice to still have that. Mutual partnership between both parties is key as both have something at stake, all opinions and open discussion makes a world of difference.

There were two key points of discussion throughout the day that we spent at the Sportsnet offices. One revolved around the formats of each of the events and how to create an identity for each one on the GSOC series. I talked about this in a blog post at the end of last season after the fifth slam was announced; there is a need to create uniqueness for each event, so when you as viewers turn on the TV you know you are watching the National or the Canadian Open, not just the Grand Slams. Different formats, pools of five or six, 16 team triples were all discussed. Each event this season will have a different draw.

Format changes were not restricted to the playing of each event; we also looked at how teams get into the GSOC. Creating different ways to obtain entry into the Grand Slams will give more teams hope to play on the big stage that the GSOC provides and would do nothing but help the competitive landscape in the world of curling (ok, I guess we did talk a little bit about the game as a whole!) I have felt that although the Order of Merit is an excellent way to decide which teams are able to attend the GSOC, it creates a situation where teams have to win multiple times over one or two years just to make a Slam. Having singular events where teams can win entry into one Slam should excite teams as they can play well one weekend and make it to the bigger stage.

The other main topic of conversation was the in-building experience and ways to improve it. HDTVs, live mics, numerous TV cameras providing every angle that fans could want, etc. has created a situation where nobody wants to leave their homes to come to the arena anymore. It is not a problem exclusive to curling; TV has become the gift and the curse of sporting events. It has created so much exposure for athletes, but it is killing the live event experience for fans. You have to do something special to be as good of a live product than it is at home.

We tried to come up with ideas of how to get more people in the building. Fans in the seats help us on the ice; an outstanding atmosphere in the building can give you that little boost to compete even harder than you thought you could. Every athlete wants to play in front of a full house. We can’t see all those faces looking at us through the TV lens but we can see the faces in the crowd, the signs and hear the noise. You want to play well to hear that roar when your skip makes something amazing for a big end and you watch the other teams’ rocks dreading the pop of the crowd. Trust us, we hear it.

The day after the meetings (and a trip to Rogers Centre for a Blue Jays game) we were exposed to some rock star treatment. Photo shoots and live-action opening montages were filmed for use throughout the season. The epic music, the hero poses, the smoke machine effects … it is not just exclusive to Jose Reyes and Jose Bautista anymore. It is coming to the Grand Slam of Curling, so look out for that.

I think we all left our time in Toronto excited about the future but knowing that there was some serious hard work ahead of us. No longer is the GSOC about survival and who is going to broadcast each event. The series has stronger TV coverage than ever so now after 13 seasons it is time for growth and that will take hard work and creative minds. That process started on July 23 and will continue to evolve in the coming weeks, months and years, all in the name of excitement for fans and players alike.