CURLING: A WINTER SPORT ON THE RISE

CURLING: A WINTER
SPORT ON THE RISE
WINTER SPORTS
Strategic and tactical, with over 500 years
of rich history, curling has risen to
­popularity. Every year, the World Curling
Championship and the European Curling
Championships showcases the top men’s
and women’s curling teams. The World
Curling Championships is played over nine
days, with the women’s event played in
March and the men’s in April, while the
European Curling Championship captivates
audiences over one week in November.
Key Facts
•• Worldwide media rights (except for Canada) for major
WCF events
•• World Women’s and World Men’s Curling
Championships take place in March and April, the
European Curling Championship in November
FOOTBALL
Spirit of the sport and the competitions
The game of curling— contested between two teams of four, played
with stones on ice — was featured at the first Olympic Winter Games in
Chamonix, France in 1924. After a gap of 74 years, it returned as an
Olympic Winter Sport at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, with both
men’s and women’s tournaments. The game is both tactical and
strategic, compared to “chess on ice” with a skilful and teamorientated ethos.
In June 2015, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed
that Mixed Doubles Curling has been approved as an additional event
at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
There is an annual schedule of international events at World and
European level for both men and women. The World Curling
­Championships involve the top 12 curling countries in the world. Each
Championship takes nine days and is played in a round robin format to
determine the qualification for the finals.
The Men’s and Women’s European Curling Championships take place
in November and are split into A and B groups, with group A
­containing the top ten European national teams. The final top eight of
group A qualify for the next World Curling Championship. The two
lowest ranking teams in Group A are relegated to Group B for the next
European Curling Championship.
•• The WCF production team ensures high standards of
delivery for the HD 16/9 signal
•• Live, delayed and highlight programming available at
venue, via satellite or tape
SUMMER SPORTS &
ACTIVE LIFESTYLE
Media Rights Contact:
Amikam Kranz, [email protected]
Chris Hurst, [email protected]
CURLING
A WINTER SPORT
ON THE RISE
Upcoming Events
Le Gruyère European Curling Championship 2015
20 – 28 November in Esbjerg, Denmark
RIGHTS OPPORTUNITIES
Ford World Women’s Curling Championship 2016
19 – 27 March, Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada
World Men’s Curling Championship 2016
2 – 10 April, Basel, Switzerland
We are confident that this addition to the
Olympic programme will accelerate curling’s
growth extensively over the coming years. As
a result, this is another key step in the
development of curling as we look to make
our sport more accessible to everyone around
the world.
Kate Caithness, President of the WCF
As official media and marketing partner of
the World Curling Federation, Infront
Sports & Media consults the federation on
the development of the sport and handles
all forms of worldwide media rights (except
for Canada) for the forthcoming WCF top
events, including TV and new media
– offering live, delayed and highlights
coverage.
WINTER SPORTS
MEDIA PRODUCTION PROSPECTS
BACKGROUND APPEAL
The World Curling Federation has its own
dedicated in-house production, using an
international team of up to 40 members to
cover each event. This set-up ensures that
expertise is constantly carried forward to
guarantee the full HD signal is of a
consistently high standard. With
­approximately 10 cameras in the stadium
covering all the action, the production
consists of one live feed as well as
highlights of any simultaneously played
games.
Curling is played throughout the world and
its popularity is increasing, along with the
global expansion of winter sports. The
sport is most firmly established in Canada,
Germany, Scotland, Scandinavia and
Switzerland, whilst growing fast in Eastern
Europe and Asia (mainly China, Japan and
South Korea). In total, 54 member
­associations belong to the WCF and the
number is rising.
FOOTBALL
SUMMER SPORTS &
ACTIVE LIFESTYLE
Curling works extremely well on television;
with direct and simple competition, and
audible players’ voices, viewers feel very
much part of the game.
The 2015 World Women’s Curling
­Championship in Japan attracted a
cumulative audience of 198.6 million
viewers from 250 hours of coverage. The
2014 European Curling Championships
recorded a cumulative audience of 12.3
million viewers from 135 hours of coverage.
www.infrontsports.com/WCF