Ontario curling championships in Cobourg a significant financial win for community
Both the municipality and the business sector came out on top.
A report expected to go before Cobourg council Wednesday suggests the recent Ontario Curling Championships resulted in a financial windfall for both the town and the community.
Hosting both the men’s and women’s sides of the tournament at the Cobourg Community Centre two months ago came with costs, but an accounting of revenues and expenditures show the municipality came out on top by more than $41,000.
And while the community impact can only be assumed, the estimates are significant.
The Province of Ontario provides a model for estimating the impact of sports tourism and other events. If the assumptions of the visitor stays, amount of visitors, and other inputs are accurate, then the model estimates the economic impact of the event to be $3 million.
According to the report, sports tourism can bring economic value, foster civic pride within a community, and leave a legacy that lasts for years. Direct spending by sport tourists at host facilities, restaurants, accommodations and entertainment venues supports and stimulates the local economy.
The men’s and women’s championships supported the Cobourg community by attracting visitors to the town, and the event showcased the Cobourg Community Centre’s ability to host large-scale ice events beyond hockey.
Municipal staff said they made beneficial changes to the way the event was hosted, as compared to 2017 when Cobourg first hosted the same weeklong tournament.
In 2017, the event offered the bowl arena, gymnasium and multi-purpose rooms. The event was granted sole use of the facility throughout its duration; no user groups or town programs/services occurred.
In 2025, the West Northumberland Curling Club again used the bowl arena and a multi-purpose room but no gymnasium space was required.
Most user groups were not permitted to use the facility throughout the event; however, junior-A and minor hockey teams were accommodated on the “pond” rink, located within the community centre, but without the bowl seating. By doing so during prime ice times, it minimized disruption to the season amid a shortage of available ice within the county.
This did require manual override operation of the ice maintenance system, as the two pads required different ice temperatures for curling and hockey, but the report states the tournament and town operations functioned harmoniously “to provide a spectacular event.”
As the title sponsor of the event, the municipality laid out an investment of $30,000. In January, the community centre sees rental revenue of approximately $29,000 per week. The rental fees for the space utilized by the tournament totalled $43,850.
Where possible, junior-A and minor hockey were accommodated throughout the duration of the event, yielding an additional $10,000 in rental revenue.
Meanwhile, ticket sales for the event yielded a total revenue of $90,809. A portion of ticket sales was collected by the municipality, totalling $31,520.52. The West Northumberland Curling Club collected the remaining revenue of $59,288.48.
The town spent $1,100 on marketing and print materials to encourage ticket sales.
The community centre’s canteen saw revenue of $11,540 throughout the event, and staff expenses of $6,200 were incurred to operate the canteen.
The value of the municipal staff’s time spent contributing toward planning and executing the event totalled about $15,000.
A final accounting of revenues and expenditures put the town’s gain at $41,810.
