World-class curling sweeping back to Las Vegas in 2016

World-class curling is sweeping its way back to Las Vegas.

The World Financial Group Continental Cup, which set an attendance record of 51,215 over four days at The Orleans Arena in January 2014, will return to the same venue next year.

Sponsored by the Canadian Curling Association and USA Curling, the event will be a part of the Canadian association’s Season of Champions and will be staged at The Orleans Jan. 14-17, 2016.

Last year’s event was the first ever played outside Canada. Bringing the event to Las Vegas, which hosts thousands of Canadian tourists in the winter, was recommended by the Reno-Tahoe Winter Games Coalition, which has worked for years to bring the Winter Olympic Games to Reno and Lake Tahoe.

The 2014 Continental Cup was a prelude to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and several Olympians participated in the Las Vegas competition. All six medal-winning teams — men and women athletes — competed in Las Vegas.

The Continental Cup is a Ryder Cup-style competition. Unlike Olympic competition, men and women compete against each other in some rounds. Under the Continental Cup format, four Canadian teams and two American teams will represent North America and will compete against teams from the rest of the world.

Hotel and ticket packages go on sale Sunday.