The PointsBet Invitational is no more. Curling Canada confirmed the event’s removal from the 2026-27 calendar in a brief paragraph buried within a mid-summer news release, drawing a quiet close to a four-year experiment that never captured the imagination of fans or the balance sheet.
Launched in 2022 with the fanfare of a major championship and a title sponsor riding the wave of newly legalised sports betting, the “Fall Madness” concept promised a Canadian answer to March Madness. Instead, it delivered three consecutive years of six-figure operating losses, sparse crowds and a television product that even seasoned broadcasters struggled to sell.
A format that never found its feet
The inaugural edition in Fredericton featured 32 teams — 16 per gender — drawn from the national rankings, junior champions, club winners and sponsor exemptions. The single-knockout bracket produced early-round mismatches that left TSN, the broadcast rights-holder, scrambling for watchable matchups.
“We had to say, ‘OK well there’s four games out there, what’s our best game?'” said Russ Howard, the Hall of Fame curler and longtime TSN analyst. “So you don’t cover Rachel Homan. But people tune in to see Rachel Homan. So we’d end up with Team 8 against Team 9 and it’s not great TV. I think that was part of the problem.”
Howard, who supported the concept in principle, argued the structure undermined the very stars the sport relies on to draw casual viewers. The Sweep 16 Bracket Challenge — a $1 million perfect-bracket promotion fronted by the likes of Donovan Bailey and the Trailer Park Boys cast — generated early buzz but was quietly dropped after 2023.
Calendar congestion and the bottom line
By 2024, Curling Canada had overhauled the format. The field was trimmed to 20 teams, round-robin play replaced sudden death, and every rink was guaranteed four games — a deliberate mimicry of the Pre-Trials and Olympic Trials environment. The tweaks improved competitive integrity but failed to move the financial needle.
Operating losses before host-committee distributions stood at $654,623 in 2022, $643,833 in 2023 and $671,377 in 2024. Figures for the 2025 edition in Calgary, which would appear in the 2025-26 year-end statement, remain unpublished.
David Murdoch, Curling Canada’s high-performance executive director, acknowledged the sponsorship landscape and a jam-packed autumn schedule forced a reassessment. The 2026-27 campaign already features five Grand Slam stops before Christmas and three Rock League events running into early February.
“We were like, ‘Well, is it a necessity for us?'” Murdoch said. “Maybe it isn’t. Should we take a year off and just see where this year goes? Because it is a busy time for our athletes. And is it really necessary?”
Mixed doubles steps into the breach
The vacant late-October window will not sit empty. Starting in 2027, the Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship will occupy the slot as a major fall event, scheduled for October 25-31 in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Reigning national champions Serena Gray-Withers and Victor Pietrangelo will wear the maple leaf at the world championship in Lohja, Finland, this January.
Murdoch left the door ajar for a future revival of a Canadian-only invitational, suggesting the federation could “build out as the quad goes” if the high-performance programme identifies a clear need. For now, the PointsBet Invitational joins the growing list of curling concepts that looked promising on paper but melted under the heat of operational reality.
Why it Matters
The demise of the PointsBet Invitational underscores a hard truth for niche sports chasing mainstream relevance: a catchy format and a betting sponsor cannot compensate for a crowded calendar and a product that fails to showcase its brightest stars. Curling Canada’s willingness to cut losses after four years — and pivot to a mixed doubles showcase that aligns with Olympic programme priorities — signals a federation increasingly disciplined about resource allocation. The real test will be whether the new fall championship can deliver the television ratings and sponsor value that its predecessor could not.
