Sponsorship hunt takes shine off Brier

Dacey's stunning victory made great television

Adam Daifallah

National Post

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

When Mark Dacey was drawing for three and The Win in the 10th end of the Brier final Sunday night, you had to wonder how many people had already flicked the channel, or turned the TV off.

After Randy Ferbey's team stole a point in the seventh to go up 8-4, the game seemed all but over. Four points in three ends was too much to ask of Dacey, the underdog, fighting the three-time defending champion, right?

Wrong. Dacey's rink did one better, taking three points in the eighth, giving up a single in the ninth and taking three more in the 10th, with a perfect draw by Dacey third Bruce Lohnes and two by Dacey himself. Some are calling it the most spectacular finish since Al Hackner's miracle double-takeout in the 10th end to beat Pat Ryan back in 1985.

When Nedohin gassed his final rock beyond the target, setting up Dacey's draw for three, he covered his face with hands in disgust. He knew it was over. It comes down to skip rocks, and when the skip can't come through under pressure, you lose. That's curling. When Dacey was in the hack lining up his final rock, one could just feel a sense of destiny -- there was no way he was going to miss that open draw to the four-foot for his first tankard.

CBC-TV, which last year moved the Brier final from the afternoon to prime time, could not have been happier with the finish. It was great curling to watch. Indeed, all week fans were treated to great curling, despite a field that was some were calling a little less than stellar. With many of the names that draw in fans and media -- Wayne Middaugh, Jeff Stoughton, Guy Hemmings -- not in the field, some were expecting a borefest. But the final, which is the memory people will take from the Brier, more than made up for any slow moments during the week.

Still, despite the rosy picture today, there are some troubles behind the scenes. While the event was well-attended (Saskatoon Place was full for almost every draw and the event was the fourth-best attended in history) and while it was covered wall-to-wall by TSN and CBC, the event has lost its main sponsor.

A week ago the Canadian Curling Association (CCA) announced this year would be the last for Nokia Canada as the title sponsor of the event after only a four year run. The phone company is still considering an investment in curling, but will no longer fork over the cash for the big show.

Nokia picked up the event after Labatt dropped its sponsorship of the event in 2000 after 20 years. And though Labatt is still a sponsor at the event, it doesn't spend the money it used to. Some speculated that the Labatt brand was so entrenched with the Brier that it would forgo the title sponsorship for some time without adverse effect.

Nokia's decision to pull out came as a surprise to some, but it might have been inevitable. The company's recently-retired president, Al Gilchrist, had a tremendous personal commitment to the sport and received an honourary life membership from the CCA in Saskatoon. There was a sense that with Gilchrist gone, his company's sponsorship would soon follow.

"I don't think it has anything to do with curling," the CCA's manager of event operations, Warren Hansen, said yesterday. "Companies change their direction and what they are going to spend money on."

Six of seven Season of Champions events have title sponsors, but it is the one that doesn't that is the biggest issue -- the Brier. The CCA is scrambling for a sponsor for next year's event in Edmonton and "the question as to when or how long it will take can not be answered."

Hansen is optimistic -- "[Sponsorship has] been strong," he said, "and we expect it to continue being strong" -- and after Sunday's prime-time performance, he has reason to be.

But finding a new sponsor for the sport's premiere annual event is going to be a challenge. It should not be, but it is.