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Major changes will be made to the PointsBet Invitational next season so that teams will get more early-season games on arena ice before the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Curling Trials in November, Curling Canada said Thursday. 

The March Madness-style single-knockout format that has been used since the event's debut in 2022 will be dropped for the Oct. 1-5 competition in Calgary. 

Instead of 16-team fields, only 10 rinks will be invited with two five-team round-robin pools used for each gender. Each team will be guaranteed a minimum of four games.

Curling Canada has yet to confirm whether the event's sudden-death format will return for the next Olympic quadrennial. 

"We will be reviewing all formats and events for the next quad as part of our annual off-season review process over the coming summer," an organization spokesman said in an email. 

Each 10-team field at the WinSport Event Centre will include the seven teams that have qualified for the Trials as of April 15. 

The other berths will go to the highest-ranked team and the highest-ranked NextGen U27 rink not already qualified for the Trials as well as the U20 national champion. 

Dropped from the new format are berths for the host province's champions, the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø college champions, the U Sports champions and ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø curling club champions.

Previously, the top 10 teams in the national end-of-season rankings received invites along with the U20 champions and U25 NextGen champions.

Tied games will continue to be decided by a draw to the button instead of an extra end but teams will now be ranked by points rather than traditional win-loss standings, Curling Canada said.

Three points will be awarded for a regulation victory, two points for a win via a post-game draw and one point for a loss on a post-game draw. No points will be given for a regulation loss.

Round-robin pool winners will advance to the championship games. Updated prize money payouts have yet to be finalized. 

The ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Curling Trials, which will determine the four-player teams that will represent the country at the 2026 Milan Olympics, are scheduled for Nov. 22-30 in Halifax.

There are several early-season bonspiels on the calendar before the Trials but most will be played in curling clubs. 

The Grand Slam of Curling — which is played on arena ice — has yet to release its schedule for next season. The Tour Challenge is usually played in early October, a few weeks before the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Open.

Fredericton hosted the inaugural PointsBet Invitational and Oakville, Ont., hosted in 2023. The Season of Champions event was added to the calendar after PointsBet Canada was named the official sports betting partner of Curling Canada.

In the style of the U.S. college basketball tournament, terms like "Elite 8" and "Final 4" were used to describe the curling playoff rounds.

PointsBet also created a $1-million "Sweep 16" challenge for fans who could predict perfect men's and women's brackets. 

The challenge was dropped for the 2024 event in Calgary.

This report by ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø was first published Feb. 6, 2025.