Tucked in at the bottom of a midsummer Curling Canada news release was a single paragraph that confirmed the PointsBet Invitational was no longer on the organization’s annual schedule.
asserted
Invitational → tuck → schedule
It was a quiet goodbye for a competition that failed to gain traction after debuting in 2022.
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that → fail → 2022
The event was originally trumpeted by the national federation as the first major championship of the quadrennial, featuring new teams, a new format and “new ways to be entertained.”
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event → trumpet → teams
Comparisons to the March Madness American men’s college basketball tournament were made.
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Comparisons → make → tournament
But the PointsBet Invitational fell flat in Year 1 and never found its footing.
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Invitational → fall → footing
It really was,” said longtime TSN curling broadcaster Russ Howard.
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Howard → say → ?
The September 2022 debut — dubbed “Fall Madness” — was held in Fredericton.
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debut → dub → Fredericton
The top 12 Canadian teams in each gender were joined by national junior champions, club champions, host committee-selected teams and sponsor’s exemptions.
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teams → join → champions
The competition later moved to Oakville, Ont., and eventually to Calgary, but crowds were sparse.
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crowds → move → Calgary
Curling Canada high-performance executive director David Murdoch said sponsorship and the compact calendar were two key components of the decision to remove the PointsBet Invitational this season.
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sponsorship → say → Invitational
“We were like, ‘Well, is it a necessity for us?,’” he said.
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he → say → us
Should we take a year off and just see where this year goes?
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year → take → year
There was no event replacement in a packed 2026-27 campaign, which includes five Grand Slam of Curling events before Christmas and three Rock League stops through early February.
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which → be → February
Starting next year, the Canadian mixed doubles championship will move into the vacant spot on the calendar as a major fall event, Curling Canada said in its release announcing the pre-qualified teams for the national playdowns.
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Canada → start → playdowns
The PointsBet Invitational’s debut included 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams competing for a purse of over $350,000.
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debut → include → 350,000
“I think we can just see how this first year goes and if it’s something that we really want to see for the high-performance program,” Murdoch said in a recent interview.
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Murdoch → think → interview
“And for Curling Canada in terms of promotion, where it’s just the Canadian athletes, then maybe that’s something that we can build out as the quad goes.
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quad → ’ → that
“There’s certainly some benefits that we enjoyed from just having the Canadian teams all together under one roof.”
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teams → ’ → roof
PointsBet launched a Sweep 16 Bracket Challenge in 2022 with a $1-million prize if a fan predicted a perfect men’s and women’s bracket.
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fan → launch → bracket
A celebrity invitational that included legendary sprinter Donovan Bailey, former NHLer Shayne Corson and TV’s “Trailer Park Boys” also generated some buzz.
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that → include → buzz
However, early rounds featured some lopsided results with inexperienced curling teams meeting top-ranked rinks.
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teams → feature → rinks
At times, it put the television rights-holder in an unusual spot for picking feature matchups to broadcast.
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it → put → matchups
“We had to say, ‘OK well there’s four games out there, what’s our best game?’” Howard said.
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what → have → ?
“So you don’t cover Rachel Homan.
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you → cover → Homan
But people tune in to see Rachel Homan.
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people → tune → Homan
“So we’d end up with Team 8 against Team 9 and it’s not great TV.
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it → end → Team
I think that was part of the problem.”
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that → think → problem
The Sweep 16 challenge was dropped in 2024 and the event format was significantly tweaked last year to mimic the environment at the Pre-Trials and Olympic Trials.
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format → drop → Trials
The single-knockout setup was dropped, teams were cut to 20 from 32, and each rink was guaranteed four round-robin games.
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rink → drop → games
The PointsBet Invitational also generated a fraction of the revenue that other Season of Champions events like national and world championships brought in.
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events → generate → championships
The 2022 event operating loss before distributions to the host committee and member associations was $654,623, per financial figures posted on Curling Canada’s website.
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loss → post → website
Information from the 2025 competition, which would be included in the 2025-26 year-end financial statement, has yet to be released.
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which → include → statement
The Canadian mixed doubles championship will be held Oct. 25-31, 2027, in Liverpool, N.S. Reigning champions Serena Gray-Withers and Victor Pietrangelo will represent Canada at the Jan. 4-10 world playdowns in Lohja, Finland.
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champions → hold → Lohja
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2026.
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report → publish → Press
The Aporia
