Toronto Star
· collected 2026-10-05 · by Gregory Strong The Canadian Press
analysis
Curling Canada quietly removed the PointsBet Invitational from its calendar this season after the event failed to gain traction since its debut in 2022. The competition, which featured a mix of established and new teams, struggled with low attendance despite attempts to generate excitement through comparisons to March Madness and large betting opportunities. David Murdoch, Curling Canada’s high-performance executive director, cited sponsorship challenges and a crowded calendar as reasons for the event's cancellation, noting that no replacement has been announced for the upcoming season.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
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.
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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
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