During the first week of the Olympic Winter Games, curling has been the shining star in the eyes of mainstream and social media throughout the United States.  That comes as no surprise to Kate Caithness, President of the World Curling Federation.  “We have long considered the United States to be the sleeping giant.  They’ve woken up at last”, Caithness said last week when asked about the future of the sport around the world.

 

These days, hardly a minute goes by that someone isn’t posting or Tweeting about curling, and that enthusiasm is also being translated into sales at the box office for the 2018 World Men’s Curling Championship, coming up in Las Vegas.

 

“We are definitely seeing an uptick since the first stones were thrown in Gangneung”, said Jon Killoran, Event Manager.  “Every single one of our 25 draws have seen some sales activity this past week, and we attribute that to all of the chatter out there.  We are also in the early stages of a local advertising campaign that will remind Las Vegas sports fans that, in a few short weeks, they can watch some of the same athletes from the Winter Games, live, at the Orleans Arena.  With a $25 ticket, we have a pretty compelling story to tell”.

 

Team USA for the 2018 World Men’s won’t be determined until March 10, at the culmination of the USA nationals in Fargo, North Dakota.  Team John Shuster, currently representing the USA at the Olympics, will be in contention in Fargo.  After four draws at the Winter Games, USA is right in the thick of the battle for one of the two final playoff spots.

 

The 2018 World Men’s Curling Championship will be held March 31 to April 8 in Las Vegas, with thirteen teams competing for world supremacy, including former world champions, the Niklas Edin team of Sweden. Sweden currently tops the leaderboard at the Winter Games, tied with Canada at 4-0.  Team Canada, a perennial world powerhouse and defending champion will determine their representative the same weekend as Team USA.

 

All ticket packages, including single draw tickets are available at the Orleans Arena Box Office, or online at www.LasVegasCurling.rocks.

 

To see how the USA's Matt Hamilton and a new Team USA Curling sponsor create social media buzz, check out the video below.