Oh, Manytoba... I like that!

I concede that the provinces with the most coverage are the ones with the highest potential viewers (AB, SK, MB, ON), and coverage later on in the week will show the games with playoff implications, but I feel we're losing something with the hyper-focus on the top ranked teams. #curling #stoh2025

Or you can look at the table above another way. Group the wildcard teams together with their province and see which provinces get the coverage.

MB - 9
AB - 6
CA - 5
SK - 4
ON - 3
NS - 3
QC - 3
NO - 2
BC - 1

There's not much there for them if they turn on TSN and see the two wildcard teams from Manitoba playing, or with a scoreboard showing AB-SK vs AB-ST catch their attention. Without the broader appeal, interest will wane.

Curling fans will pretty much watch whatever game that is shown. But it's the casual sports fan just looking for something to watch that might not be hooked anymore. They have a built-in rooting interest if the provincial teams are emphasized.

When the field was smaller (12 teams before 2015), there was at least a token effort to show as many teams as possible. With the expansion of the field to include "wild card" teams, and splitting the field into two pools, there are more teams and less games.

Canada - 5
Saskatchewan - 4
Manitoba (Cameron) - 4
Manitoba (Einarson) - 4
Ontario - 3
Nova Scotia - 3
Alberta (Skrlik) - 3
Quebec - 3
Alberta (Sturmay) - 3
Northern Ontario - 2
Manitoba (Lawes) - 1
British Columbia - 1

Teams that might as well not exist: NL, PEI, NB, NU, NWT, YT