In The Rings: The Curling Group pushes back planned Rock League announcement

TORONTO — The Curling Group postponed a Rock League schedule update planned for Wednesday, the latest hiccup in what has been a period of growing pains for the young professional curling league.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the announcement’s delay.

The five-event Rock League schedule was initially released last December with Season 2 stops planned for Moose Jaw, Sask. (Jan. 7-10), Halifax (Jan. 14-17), Utica, N.Y. (Jan. 28-31), and Ottawa (Feb. 4-7). The season-ending playoffs and championship were set for April 8-18 at a location to be announced.

However, a showcase venue on that schedule — Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre — does not have Rock League on its event listings. The 10,500-seat arena hosted the Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials last fall.

In an email, an arena spokesperson said they don’t have any confirmation for a Rock League event.

“We will be publicly announcing all location and ticket details for Rock League 2027 on Sept. 16,” The Curling Group communications director Jennifer Cram said via email when asked last month about that discrepancy.

In a text message received late Wednesday afternoon, Cram said there were plans to send out a news release on Thursday. Further details weren’t provided.

Some Rock League dates currently conflict with a number of provincial championships as well as some national playdowns in other countries.

The Curling Group, which bought the Grand Slam of Curling series in 2024, also made late changes to the Rock League schedule ahead of its opening season last spring.

Initial plans for a six-week campaign with international stops were changed last fall and the season was eventually downsized into a single weeklong competition in St. Paul, Minn.

Plans changed again after that, with the competition eventually moved to Toronto.

Rock League was at first met with optimism by curlers eager to see the Roaring Game move closer to a professional sport. Major national and international broadcasters got involved.

This will be a key season to see if the league can gain some traction in a sport that cherishes tradition.

Many top domestic and international curlers were on board last season, joining different teammates on six newly created franchises. Some rules were changed and scoring tweaks were made.

However, several high-profile Canadian curlers — including reigning Brier champion skip Matt Dunstone, Colton Lott, E.J. Harnden and Tyler Tardi — withdrew on the eve of competition.

Other challenges followed when play began at Mattamy Athletic Centre. The first few days of the event were marred by major production issues and overall attendance was poor.

Despite billing Rock League as a professional league, The Curling Group has declined to provide specifics on individual athlete earnings. Attendance numbers have also not been released.

There are also some concerns ahead of the upcoming Grand Slam season, which has been compressed into a two-month window this fall.

The series still does not have a title sponsor and only one of the five competitions — the Oct. 13-18 Co-op Invitational in Victoria — has an event sponsor.

GSOC branding is currently being used for the Nov. 3-8 GSOC Masters in Medicine Hat, Alta., the Nov. 12-17 GSOC National in Sydney, N.S., the Dec. 1-6 GSOC Open in Thunder Bay, Ont., and the Dec. 15-20 GSOC Players’ Cup in Kingston, Ont.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2026.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press