Victoria's reputation as a walk-up town for tickets has bedeviled event organizers for decades.
The city, however, usually comes through for the many major sporting events that have been hosted in the B.C. capital and organizers of the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts national women's curling championship are expecting no different from February 21 to March 1 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Organizers announced, during a news conference yesterday to celebrate being 40 days out from the opening ceremonies, that 65,000 tickets have been sold to date through various multi-draw packages. The goal is 100,000. A total of 120,000 would represent a sell-out for all sessions.
"I've heard that Victoria is a last-minute town but we're over two-thirds of the way to our goal and we're pleased with that," said Chris Atchison, chairman of the host committee.
Yet Victoria ticket purchasers in general have always seemed to prefer the flexibility of single-day sales to multi-day packages.
"We've heard from people that they want to make their own choices and they have asked us when individual draw tickets go on sale and we're happy to say those begin today," said Atchison.
"People want to pick and choose their days and draws."
While virtually everybody in the curling community knows the 2009 Scotties will be hosted at the Memorial Centre, the casual fan now becomes the focus, said Atchison.
Toward that end, the organizing committee announced a Paint the Town campaign in which local businesses are being encouraged to dress up their front windows in curling and 2009 Scotties themes to generate excitement.
"Most of the curling community is well aware of the Scotties and the rest of the community at large is also starting to wake up to it," said Atchison.
"We were at a local rugby banquet over the weekend where many of the people had only heard of the 2009 Scotties for the first time when we told them about it. But once they learned about it, they were very excited. Victoria is that kind of supportive city. Once even casual fans learn about a big event happening in the city, they tend to get behind it."
That has been reflected in recent events held in the city. The 2007 FIFA Under-20 World Cup attracted sold-out crowds of 14,000 to Royal Athletic Park, the 2008 women's Olympic field-hockey qualifier for Beijing sold out for the finals at UVic, crowds in excess of 5,000 attended most sessions of the 2006 Skate Canada International at the Memorial Centre and a sweltering Saanich Commonwealth Place was jammed to watch Michael Phelps and other international stars during the 2006 Pan Pacific swim championships.
In the last major curling event hosted at the Memorial Centre, the 2005 world men's championships, 17 of the 21 draws sold out. What was really revealing about that was that 77 per cent of the tickets were sold to Island fans.
"You get fans from all over the world but international sporting events such as these are still very much about the local market; and that local market has always come through in Victoria," said Keith Dagg, who chaired the 2005 men's curling world championship.
"This is priced very well and I know the 2009 Scotties organizing committee will reach its goals. I remember by the time the 2005 worlds got nearer, there were no chances for the walk-ups because the tickets were already sold."
Atchison said as a national championship the Scotties will provide a different sort of atmosphere at the Memorial Centre -- more a good-natured family-feud feel -- than an international event such as the 2005 men's worlds. This is less about national pride on the world stage and more about the often-colourful inter-provincial rivalries that are such an integral part of curling in deciding who will represent Canada on that international stage at the 2009 women's worlds.
"The Scotties are truly a little bit of Canadiana," notes Atchison.
Tickets for the 2009 Scotties are available through, www.selectyourtickets.com.
