Curling is for cold climates. I lived in northern Wisconsin, where in wintertime the sports were ice fishing, tobogganing, sledding, playing hockey in a frozen ditch, or watching NHL games on TV or curling matches. All of which involved an abundance of ice or frozen snow. Canadian curling was the best.
Just a regional thing, IMO.
Common decorum prevents me posting what’s behind the real drive it push soccer on American Yutes, but it’s all explained in the book (the title of which I cannot post) with the ISBN-13 of 978-1618081452.