Preparations are well underway for the 2020 Alberta Men’s Curling Championship, also known as the Boston Pizza Cup, and the Westlock Curling Club is currently in the midst of seeking sponsorships to help make the event even more successful than the 2017 edition, which was also held in Westlock.
The arena surface at the Rotary Spirit Centre will once again be transformed into four sheets of pebbled ice Feb. 5-9, 2020, after the curling club was awarded the event last May.
John Vandenborn spoke on behalf of the curling club’s four sponsorship committee members who appeared as a delegation at town council’s Oct. 15 meeting to give an update on the BP Cup and make a formal request for a $7,500 sponsorship from the town.
Council will make its decision regarding sponsorship at the next meeting Oct. 28.
The proposed sponsorship package will include 10 VIP passes, four seats to the opening banquet where a delegate will be invited to speak, advertisement opportunities on radio and in the Westlock News, and Town of Westlock’s logo on event-related materials.
Additionally, the town will receive 40 general admission tickets for the Wednesday and Thursday evening draws, and 20 tickets for the semi-final draw on Sunday.
Organizers are also offering an in-ice advertisement opportunity at the cost of $10,000.
Should councillors decide to advertise, the town logo would appear on all four ice surfaces.
“Overall, we’re progressing quite well with our planning for the event. We’re probably ahead of where we were in 2017 at this time when we hosted it,” said Vandenborn.
The committee began approaching potential sponsors two weeks ago, and Vandenborn suggested that in another two weeks time commitments might start to appear. The committee will also make their case at the Oct. 22 Westlock County council meeting.
“We’re doing the normal thing. We’re canvassing a ton of local businesses. We have a few larger opportunities too with Canadian companies in the agricultural sector. We’re trying to target bigger businesses than what we might have just in the Westlock area, especially for the in-ice. I realize that the price tag on it is quite steep, but for a large company there’s great ad opportunity that has the potential to be seen definitely across Alberta, but perhaps across the country,” added Vandenborn.
According to Sportsnet, the Sunday draws during the 2017 BP Cup reached viewership figures of 376,000 people across the country.
The focus is still local, however, said Vandenborn, and organizers are always willing to hear from potential sponsors even though they don’t contact them directly.
