The Grand Slam of Curling will kick off Tuesday with a new-look broadcast booth after an off-season overhaul. Longtime Sportsnet curling host Rob Faulds retired last summer and veteran analysts Kevin Martin and Mike Harris are not returning to their previous roles. The Curling Group brought in relative curling newcomer Darren Dupont to join John Cullen for host/play-by-play duties this season. Jennifer Jones returns as an analyst on a crew that also includes Joanne Courtney, Brad Gushue and Brent Laing. Sportsnet returns as the main domestic rights-holder with CBC now on board for coverage of some Saturday draws and select Sunday finals. Morning weekday draws and tiebreakers will be streamed on Rock Channel for subscribers. “We’ve been very open with our desire to innovate, to change and to grow,” said The Curling Group CEO Nic Sulsky. Outside of Canada, there will be coverage on the ESPN+ streaming service in the United States this season and internationally on DAZN. A Thursday game between American Danny Casper and Winnipeg’s Matt Dunstone will be available in the U.S. on ESPNU, a channel that primarily features college sports. Play on the five-event GSOC circuit begins Tuesday morning at the Co-op Invitational in Victoria and continues through Sunday. Also on the calendar this season are the Nov. 3-8 GSOC Masters in Medicine Hat, Alta., the Nov. 17-22 GSOC National in Sydney, N.S., the Dec. 1-6 GSOC Open in Thunder Bay, Ont., and the Dec. 15-20 GSOC Players’ Cup in Kingston, Ont. Jones has worked on the Grand Slam broadcast team since retiring in 2024 while Courtney has served as an analyst on TSN since 2023. Both also have experience calling Olympic curling action. Gushue, meanwhile, retired earlier this year and now serves as USA Curling’s high-performance director. He has done some in-studio work on occasion and called two games with Faulds at the Manitoba playdowns nearly a decade ago. “People will have to bear with me, I guess, for the first couple of events as I learn the ropes and get more comfortable with it,” Gushue said in a recent interview. “But I have lots of confidence in my knowledge of the game and my knowledge of the teams and the strategy part that I can share. “It’s just a matter of now honing that and becoming a good analyst.” Laing, who has been on the mic for Grand Slam streaming coverage since 2024, will be making his live television broadcasting debut. Dupont, meanwhile, has previously called games at the Saskatchewan curling championships. He also has WHL and Canadian university football broadcasting experience. Cullen made his live TV broadcasting debut on CBC with Rock League last April. The podcast host has also handled play-by-play for games streamed on The Curling Group’s Rock Channel over the last two seasons. There will be four Canadian teams entered in the season-opening women’s draw. They include teams skipped by Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., Victoria’s Kayla MacMillan, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan and Victoria’s Taylor Reese-Hansen. The 16-team men’s field includes Canadian teams skipped by Dunstone, Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher, Toronto’s John Epping, Calgary’s Kevin Koe and reigning Olympic champion Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2026. Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
