Competitors at the four Grand Slam of Curling events this year will play two fewer ends in their matches, one of a handful of changes announced Friday by the World Curling Tour.

The switch to eight-end games was made to better accommodate the needs of the CBC and its corporate partners, who were seeking streamlined matches that fit into shorter time slots.

The CBC announced an eight-year broadcast and multimedia agreement for the Grand Slam bonspiels earlier this week, replacing Rogers Sportsnet, which dropped the Tour in August.

``It was inevitable that the game would go to eight ends or we'd be looking at a four-hour time slot for 10 ends,'' curler Kevin Martin said on a conference call.

``It's just the evolution of what's going on in this sport. Ten years ago I'm not sure eight ends would have worked but now the ice conditions we play on, the amount of rocks in play and how long it actually takes to play an end with all those draws, it takes us longer to play.''

Martin's view was echoed by David Nedohin and Jeff Stoughton, who agreed that eight-end matches are the way of the future. All other World Curling Tour events will remain at 10 ends, but the demands of TV are pressuring big events to change their ways.

``Just look at the corporate community and sports in general and where the direction it's going in, tightening up the time slots that television allows for sports, whether it be football or hockey or in this case curling,'' said Nedohin. ``Based on those factors and the influences of the corporate community, it's another step in the right direction for a lot of reasons.''

The deal gets the CBC back on the curling broadcast circuit after a June deal gave TSN the rights to all Canadian Curling Association events, including the Tim Hortons Brier, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the Ford world championships from 2008-14.

This season, the Masters is set for Nov. 29-Dec. 3 in Kitchener, Ont., Winnipeg hosts the Canadian Open Jan. 24-28, the National will be held March 22-25 in Port Hawkesbury, N.S., while Calgary is home to the Players Championship April 10-15.

The Tour also announced that it had licensed the Grand Slam rights to Insight Sports Ltd.

and that Asham Curling Supplies secured naming rights through 2014, agreements Stoughton says will help all curling teams.

``One of the biggest sellers is saying you're going to have the opportunity to play on national TV, four big events, lots of cash, lots of big exposure for them and your team,'' he said. ``It should be a win-win for curlers, fans and sponsors.''

Martin is optimistic the shorter matches will help lure more young Canadians into the game which in turn will help attract the audience demographic sought by advertisers.

``It gives them a really good reason to get into our sport,'' he said. ``They're going to see a lot more of it on the network, the profit potential because of the huge ratings, and the sponsorship that is available will really be attractive for the young people across Canada.

``You're going to see the average age of our champions continue to get lower and lower.''

Stoughton objected to that _ ``we're the old farts on the Tour now, we've got to win once in a while'' _ and also disagreed with Martin's notion that eight-end matches would affect in-game strategy.

``It shouldn't change the way you play the game,'' said Stoughton. ``Everyone wants to score big early to get out to the lead so that's not going to change.''

Martin thinks the two fewer ends will force teams to become more aggressive from the outset, something that should help younger players.

``You can't take a few ends to feel your team out or the other team out anymore,'' he said. ``You've just got to go at it and play to all your strengths.''

Either way, they're all willing to do what it takes to make things work with CBC.

The public broadcaster drew the ire of curling fans in 2004-05 when they carried just one draw a day from the major events on the national network and a second draw on its little known Country Canada digital channel.

In a revamped deal last season, CBC handed off the round-robin games to TSN but retained the semifinals and finals. The CBC wasn't even invited into negotiations with the CCA when the TSN deal was reached.

``National broadcast coverage is a very big deal for us,'' said Nedohin. ``I think it's really important to have our national network covering curling at some level. They've been a big supporter of the sport for a very long time.''