‘The ice is now broken’: KIOTI GSOC Tahoe just the beginning for TCG’s international expansion plans

STATELINE, Nev. — Tahoe today, Tokyo tomorrow?

The Grand Slam of Curling is making its international debut this week with the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe, running through to Sunday at the Tahoe Blue Event Center.

Hosting an international event has been on the Grand Slam of Curling’s bucket list for years, even before The Curling Group acquired the series from Sportsnet in 2024. A Grand Slam event scheduled for Las Vegas in January 2021 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’s no shortage of scenery amid the panoramic views from sparkling Lake Tahoe to the surrounding forests and mountains, and the curlers are embracing the opportunity.

“We’ve been waiting for this for a while,” skip Mike McEwen said. “I remember, maybe five years ago, we were scheduled to go to Vegas. That was very exciting, so finally we’re here, and what a destination. It’s stunning. I wish we had gone international a long time ago, but hopefully this is a great stepping stone for the future of the Slams.”

The Curling Group CEO and co-founder Nic Sulsky also couldn’t help but use a curling-related play on words when asked if this is just the start of international expansion for not only the Grand Slam of Curling but also for his company’s newest venture, Rock League, which is set to debut in April 2026.

“I mean, no pun intended, but the ice is now broken,” Sulsky said. “It had to start somewhere. Tahoe wasn’t the easiest place to go to, like travel wasn’t easy for us, wasn’t easy for the curlers, but it’s beautiful and it’s worth it.”

“Whether it’s for a Grand Slam of Curling event or whether it’s for Rock League, we will be back in the U.S., and we have aspirations to go all over the world,” he added. “I’ve been very loud about going to Europe and going to Asia, and we’re going to do it. Are we going to go this year? No. We’re not going to cross the oceans this year, but will it be in the near future? Absolutely.

“Coming here means it’s more than just a curling event, right? It’s the beginning of us being able to finally bring these types of events all over the world.”

The international reach is also reflected on the ice among the 16 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams, representing 10 different nations, competing in the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe. Half of the women’s division features teams from Asia, with four teams from Japan, three from South Korea and one from China.

“That’s an amazing thing,” said Chinami Yoshida, who throws third stones for Satsuki Fujisawa’s Kitami-based club. “That’s what I wanted for a long time.”

The fanbase has also grown exponentially as curling is big in Japan, no doubt thanks to Fujisawa’s Olympic success, winning silver and bronze medals. Yoshida is the sport’s true rock star with over 304,000 Instagram followers.

“Maybe 10 years ago, actually, nobody knew about the Grand Slam, so that’s why we are trying to promote how great the Grand Slam is,” said Yoshida, whose team became the first from Japan to win a Grand Slam title at the Canadian Open in 2023. “Right now, lots of Japanese curling fans are very looking forward to the Grand Slam.”

Grand Slam of Curling tournaments are premier events on the tour circuit, offering valuable ranking points — increasing the competition among the Japanese teams.

“We have to be the top of the ranking in Japan to qualify for the world curling championship,” Yoshida explained. “That’s why it’s more exciting for us, why it would be our best performance.”

The Grand Slam of Curling is celebrating its milestone 25th season, beginning as a men’s invitational in 2001. The 2006 Players’ Championship was the first to include a women’s field, with all five events in the series now featuring men’s and women’s divisions and equal prize money.

“It’s unbelievable how the Grand Slams have grown,” said Wayne Middaugh, one of the Original 18 men’s skips in the series. “To be here in Lake Tahoe and to be playing a Grand Slam, I would have never guessed it would have gotten this far. It’s an absolutely fantastic way for players to improve and to be the best.”

While the 2006 Players’ Championship featured 13 Canadian women’s teams, the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe has three, including Kerri Einarson’s club from Gimli, Man.

Einarson’s round-robin schedule this week is like a mini-world championship, facing South Korea’s Team Bo-bae Kang, China’s Team Wang Rui, Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni and Team Fujisawa.

“It’s amazing to see,” said Einarson, who has won six Grand Slam titles. “Kang and Wang, we haven’t played them, so it’s nice to be able to play different teams, too. The sport is growing and it’s heading in the right direction.”

Sulsky laughed as the international flavour on the ice is all he’s ever known.

“This is a truly global sport, but people don’t really realize that. People think curling and they think Canadian, but at the end of the day, look at the makeup of the women’s division out there,” he said. “Even the men’s, I mean, yes, there are six Canadian men’s teams … I’m sure it was like that in the women’s division before, but it just showcases how truly global the sport is.”

The big carrot this season is the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina. Rock League — an all-pro league featuring teams representing Canada, Europe, Asia/Pacific and the United States — is aiming to quench the thirst of fans, both casual and hardcore, searching for curling content in the post-Olympic wake.

“Let’s face it, Milan-Cortina is coming, and I say this all the time, but it’s true from a quantity perspective, curling is the most-watched Winter Olympic sport. It’s on all the time, people all around the world fall in love with this sport every four years, and our job is to finally give them this sport more than every four years,” Sulsky said.

“A lot of people say, ‘Oh, are you sure there’s an audience for curling all over the world?’ Well, just look at the athletes who are performing in the Slam. Name another sport that has this much international representation in one place. It’s hard to find, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Although an overseas event might not be in the immediate plans, it is very much on Sulsky’s mind.

“There’s so much talk about going to Japan, especially. I can’t stop hearing stories about how popular the sport is getting, how big the curling communities are in Japan,” Sulsky said. “But there’s a big difference going from Canada to Lake Tahoe versus Canada to Tokyo — timing, schedule, travel, all of that. So, baby steps, but I think that The Curling Group, the Grand Slam of Curling, and generally the sport have taken a big step this week.

“It’s no longer just World Curling and Curling Canada doing world championships in random American cities when they have to. This is a beautiful tourist destination that is now the home of the first-ever U.S. Slam. That’s pretty cool.”

For Yoshida, a Grand Slam of Curling event in Japan is the dream.

“Everybody’s dreaming to play in the Olympics and also world curling championships, but for us, winning the Grand Slam, it’s kind of the world championship, so that’s why,” Yoshida said. “That is always the dream stage.”