World Men’s Curling Championships coming to Las Vegas in 2018
And now, we bring you curling.
Las Vegas, known as the town of free-standing sporting events, will host the World Men’s Curling Championships in 2018.
The event, which is scheduled for March 31-April 8, will take place at 8,000 seat Orleans Arena, the World Curling Federation announced Thursday.
It will come two months after the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and mark the first time the annual world championship will be held in the United States in a decade.
It’s not the first time Las Vegas has hosted a curling event. More than 51,000 spectators saw the Continental Cup in 2014 and that event will be held again at the Orleans next January.
“We’re delighted to be taking the World Men’s Curling Championship to one of the most recognized cities in the world, in 2018, and back to America for the first time since 2008,” World Curling Federation president Kate Caithness said in a statement. “The WFG Continental Cup in 2014 was a great success and has helped lay the foundations for this Championship.
“I look forward to working with the local organizing committee, USA Curling, our sponsors and partners in the coming years, as we seek to capitalize on the growing interest in curling, not only in Las Vegas but throughout the United States.”
Curling has become the darling of late night TV at the Olympics during the past two decades. The sport with the stone and the brooms has drawn respectable ratings as well as helped to create curling clubs across the country.
The world championship will host 12 international teams, including eight from the European Zone, two from the Americas Zone and two from the Pacific-Asia Zone. USA will automatically qualify in 2018 as the host country.
“Nevada is quickly becoming a ‘must attend’ destination for the sport of curling”, local organizing committee chairman Jon Killoran said in a statement. “We are honored to be chosen to host a prestigious World Men’s Curling Championship on the heels of two WFG Continental Cups in Las Vegas, as well as the 2014 World Curling Congress in Reno-Tahoe.”
