Oilers Entertainment Group has "teamed up with The Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada to bring many of the top up and coming golfers to Edmonton" for an annual event, according to Jason Hills of the EDMONTON JOURNAL. The Oil Country Championship will be "played at Edmonton’s Glendale Golf and Country Club, July 25-31" as part of a "five-year agreement that will see the tournament played at Windermere Golf and Country Club" in '17 (EDMONTON JOURNAL, 1/22). In Edmonton, Terry Jones writes the MacKenzie Tour stop is "not big," but it is "the start of something big." It marks the "first step toward securing other PGA Tour events." It is also OEG's "first big step out of the arena, if you will, into all sorts of sports presentations." Oilers Entertainment Group Vice Chair & CEO Bob Nicholson said, "Expand the brand. It was Oilers hockey. It’s now Oilers Entertainment Group. We’re going after different sports. This is going to lead to other things." He added, "We have to prove ourselves and see where that fit is. There’s no question [the PGA Tour] has looked at this Ice District and said, 'Wow, there’s nothing like this anywhere in the world'" (EDMONTON SUN, 1/22).
