Even the most casual viewers of the 2026 Olympics likely know one of the biggest scandals of the games was curling's "boopgate."
With an extended finger and some choice words from athletes, interest in the unconventional sport rose. Now, the U.S. has a curling bonanza on its hands.
It's in this environment that 13 teams are competing for a world curling championship at the Weber County Ice Sheet — the same venue that hosted curling in the 2002 Olympics. Diehard fans and curling newbies alike came out for the first day of competition. The stone throwing and sweeping goes through April 4.
Micha Suarez, a curler who drove to the event from San Diego, explained the rules of the game to Ogden resident Chris Peña. He got tickets after seeing the event was coming to his local rink and is one of the sport's newest fans.
With a blanket across his lap, he practically bounced with excitement as he described the game.
"Very interesting. Keeps your attention. I love it!" he said, and he's already looking forward to watching curling again in the 2034 Utah Olympics.
But the Weber County Ice Sheet is not likely to host eight years from now. The sport may have outgrown it.
The 2034 Olympic organizing committee selected a different venue because curling has gotten much more popular, a spokesperson said. They chose the Salt Palace Convention Center, which would seat 6,500, compared to Ogden's 2,000-person capacity.
As a longtime curler and learn-to-curl organizer, Kara Umphlett with the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation has seen that growth firsthand. She fell in love during the 2002 Olympics and signed up for a learn-to-curl clinic. At age 12, she was too young to join the local league.
"But four years later, after the 2006 Olympics, they called me and they said, 'Hey, we have other people your age that want to put a team together. Would you like to play with them?'" she recalled.
At the time, she said, many people hadn't heard of curling or didn't understand it. But things have changed even since she joined the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation around the 2022 games.
"Now, four years later, to be there after the '26 games is kind of night and day difference," she said.
Two reasons for the growth, she suspects, are how curling appeals to people of all ages and has a relatively low barrier to entry — just join a league, and the gear is provided. The clinics she coordinates at the Oval Curling Club sold out this year, well in advance.
"This year, I stopped counting when I hit 100 emails of people that reached out saying, 'Your learn-to-curls are full, and I want to try curling,'" she said.
Some of the sport's popularity might also come from its ubiquity. Curling was the only sport to be played every day of the 2026 Olympics. Matches can run for hours, and teams play multiple matches during the round robin stage. The broadcast demands are another reason the Ice Sheet comes up short, said Eeva Roethlisberger, head of competitions for World Curling.
"We may have the right number of seats here," she said. "We don't have the option to have all those extra benches for broadcast, for media, officials, for teams, and that's why this venue is now too small."
A downtown venue could also help attract more new fans, Roethlisberger said. If visitors' first-choice competitions are canceled due to bad weather, they can roll into the ice rink if it's nearby.
"Curling is on every day of the games, morning to night," she said.
Still, Sara Toliver, president and CEO of Visit Ogden, hopes a smooth World Curling Championships this year will keep the Ice Sheet on 2034 officials' minds — if not as a host, then as a practice venue.
"What a great opportunity for our community to have an Olympic venue, right, you know, in our city, and give our residents really the opportunity to experience that and be able to participate in it," she said.
The 2002 Winter Games contributed to then-mayor Matthew Godfrey championing Ogden as a recreation hub, Toliver said, so she's excited about what 2034 could do for the city.
If the Salt Palace is indeed the final pick, Toliver said Weber County will be happy to support, whatever that might look like.
"Ultimately, truthfully, our goal is an incredibly successful 2034 Games, because that is going to put our entire state in a positive light that impacts us in the long term," she said.
Disclosure: The Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation is a financial sponsor of KUER.
Macy Lipkin is a Report for America corps member who reports for KUER in northern Utah.
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