Foothills County council chose not to partner with the Town of Okotoks and the Okotoks Curling Club for the 2020 Alberta Scotties Provincial Ladies Curling Championships.
Council’s decision at the Sept. 19 meeting to refuse the $10,000 partnership opportunity follows precedent regarding the County’s previous decisions on other sponsorship opportunities.
“I believe that the economic boom (talked about in the proposal) is mainly for the Town of Okotoks,” said Coun. Alan Alger. “Going back to Hometown Hockey, when CBC opens up their cameras and they go ‘Here we are in Okotoks and the beautiful Foothills County,’ so we get our perks one way or another.
“As far as economics, I don’t believe any of it is going to come back to us.”
Okotoks council voted to unanimously support a partnership with the Okotoks Curling Club to host the 2020 AB Scotties at its Sept. 9 council meeting.
Mayor Bill Robertson inquired at the Sept. 9 meeting about Foothills County’s partnership during the meeting, and was told a partnership was extended in letter-form per County council’s request, and their decision remained outstanding at that time.
Robertson said that he was pleased the County would have the option to partner as well, and that supporting sporting events supports athletes, recreational athletes, and businesses in the community.
“Foothills County in particular has those same people, they have curlers out in the county, they have businesses that will benefit financially from the increased economic activity due to this event,” said Robertson.
Coun. Ed Sands said Okotoks council’s decision to partner for the event was a creative way forward and “speaks to a partnership within the community.”
“It says we’re there with you, we’re going to help you financially, and we’re going to give you a bit of insurance, but we’re also going to share with you the risk,” he said.
The Town’s partnership is two-part: a donation of $14,597, which includes waiving the ancillary facility rental fees of $11,352.99 in addition to a donation of $3,243.60; as well as a donation of the Murray Arena ice rental fees valued at $15,403.41, to be paid back if the event is successful.
The partnership for the 2020 event includes similar principles as the 2016 Grand Slam of Curling agreement between the Town and the club, such as all profits of the event will be split 50/50 until the $15,403.41 of Murray Arena rental fees are paid back. Any additional revenue surplus will be returned to the Okotoks Curling Club.
The 2016 event successfully paid back the Town’s investment with the 50/50 model.
“I think that something that differentiates itself in our case is we, in Alberta here, really are at the hotbed of curling in the world,” said Jill Richard, executive director of Curling Alberta, at the meeting. “We do have a lot of influence around bringing future, really high-profile events here as well, so I think that this would be a really good investment for the future.”
The Town’s partnership would help the Okotoks Curling Club to build a reputation of holding world-class events, said Atina Johnson, Okotoks Curling Club host committee co-chair, with the club pledging in return to help to support future, high profile events.
“With any profits that we make from this event, we are contributing to community outreach initiatives,” she said.
Those initiatives include in-school programs and hosting the KidSport Funspiel, in addition to building on its junior curling academy.
“We have some high performance athletes that are going to be using our facility this year, so that will highlight Okotoks Curling Club (and) we’re going to use some of the money to develop the facility for other events,” she said.
The curling club will host the championship at the Okotoks Recreation Centre from Jan. 20-26, and has booked the Murray Arena for an 11-day period that includes both setup and takedown.
Over 100 early bird tickets for the event have already been sold, and online tickets sales launched at the beginning of the month.
The event will offer promotion of the community with national television coverage on Sportsnet, as well as provincial coverage and local media.
“We will of course work with Sportsnet to promote local tourism and businesses when they do their broadcasts,” said Johnson.
She said viewership, based on Curling Alberta’s reports on other events, is anticipated to range between 250,000 and 300,000 for national coverage.
The partnership with the Town to host the Scotties also has the potential to include eight in-ice logos in the arena directly above each hogline, valued by Curling Alberta at $30,000 if sold to advertisers.
The original partnership brought forward to council by administration did not include the donation value of $3,243.60, which was added as an amendment by Coun. Matt Rockley in order to match the value of the $30,000 partnership package.
“This isn’t our first partnership with (the Okotoks Curling Club) and it’s been successful (in the past),” he said. “The positive messaging for the Town of Okotoks in having the sponsorship recognition is very valuable to the Town of Okotoks and helps to provide a positive image for the Town, and I think that it is money well spent.
“Meeting the Okotoks Curling Club and the organizing committee at their request, I think it’s a good place for the Town of Okotoks to be as an equal partner.”
Impact studies from previous curling events in Alberta presented to council included the 2013 Boston Pizza Cup (Men’s Curling Championship) in Leduc, which had $703,000 in total economic activity.
Additionally, the 2019 Alberta Scotties Provincial Women’s Championship report showed an economic assessment for the Stettler Region between $500-550,000.
Town administration predicted the Okotoks economic impact would be similar to that of Stettler’s.
“There is the potential for a significant economic impact to the Okotoks business community,” said Donna Racette, client services manager for the Town. “And the Town’s economic development team has already been working with the organizing committee to assist with the connections for sponsorship and other partnership.”
