Last month, we had a quick detailed look into where we could potential end up going in 2025, and now, we officially have the bids that are competing to actually host the entire thing. Thanks to Nemo‘s victory in Malmö, the Swiss broadcaster (SRG SSR) are fully in preparation mode for the upcoming contest, which will be held in one of the four potential places, since the deadline for submitting bids, is now over.
The candidates
Switzerland is a magnificent country, when it comes to cultural diversity and with many cities that could’ve offered guests an interesting time. Unfortunately, not all of these cities are capable of hosting an event of this scale, and in the end, only four candidates have in the end, decided to bid for the 2025 contest. These also being among the largest cities of Switzerland, which are Zürich, Genève, Basel and Bern(supported by Biel/Bienne). St. Gallen were also one of the highly interested contenders, but had to forfeit their bid, since the city had to acknowledge that the demands were non-reachable for hosting the contest. With that, lets have a more in depth view, on the remaining four cities.
Bern(Biel/Bienne)
Starting with the de facto capital of the country, which is Bern. This is also a unique and different kind of bid, since it’s a cooperative bid, being supported by Biel/Bienne, which is the hometown of Eurovision winner Nemo. The cities are located just about 25 km from each other, when considering only aerial travel, so could be further depending on way of transportation.
The idea behind this bid, is to celebrate Nemo‘s victory, but since the city of Biel/Bienne can’t live up to the demands, the city can only support a nearby location, which for obvious reason is Bern. Both cities are also part of the same canton, which might make cooperation easier, but despite the combined forces, the bid has also been described as the lowest invested bid as well.
The arena that would host the contest would be the Neue Festhalle, which in English translates to “New Party Hall”. The thing about the proposed arena is, that it is under construction and is expected to open around March 2025, which is just in time, which would make the contest the first event hosted in the arena. When it comes to the amount of spectators, it’s at the lower end, expected to host up to 9.000 spectators.
Despite everything, the bid focuses on what the contest stands for, rather than the costs. Additional funds could come into place, should the bid be successful, but the diversity, bilingualism and multiculturism is the key points for this bid.
The broadcaster has overall described the bid as “charming and ambitious”.
Basel
Moving on to the only city, which has two proposed venues, it is the city of Basel, which is located right at the upper corner of both the French and German border. This bid heavily focuses as well on multiculturism, due to it’s geographic location. Being a strong point, when it comes to travel across 3 countries, with the airport being located in France.
The Basel bid is mainly focused around the St. Jakob area, which includes both St. Jakobshalle AND St. Jakob-Park. The area is commonly known as the homeground of local football club FC Basel 1893, which is one of the most succesful clubs of Switzerland. The club not only backs-up the bid, but supports it as well, with the contest possibly taking place on the football stadium. In that case, the football stadium would need a temporary roof, but would be able to host towards 40.000 spectators, which would be a new audience record for the contest, but it’s more likely to be held in the hall, which would still host just about 12.500 spectators.
The city has hosted large events in the past as well, the greatest being the European Championship in 2008. On the other hand, so has all the other bids as well, but this bid is the only one, which will use it’s experience and location from that event. Should the bid be succesful, additional funds will be added towards projects that will make the visit remarkable for both dedicated fans, as well as any visitor.
The capacity of the airport is probably the most questionable thing, but otherwise, the bid is described as “creative and determined”.
Genève
Further on, we find the 3rd bid, which comes from Genève. This is probably the most international city on the planet, hosting not only the headquarters of the EBU, but also home to various international organisations. Some of them being the World Health Organisation (WHO), European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and so many more. The city is located in the Southwest corner of the country, surrounded by the French border.
When you’re dealing with these kind of international organisations, you best believe it’s needed to have multiple ways of getting there. There’s no question about, whether this Swiss city has the capacity to host the event. The host venue would be the Palexpo, which would welcome towards 15.000 cheering fans inside it’s doors.
The canton and municipal governments are even willing to spends towards 30 million Swiss Franc, and pull always the symbolic and inspirational ideas, in order to make sure the city can host the upcoming contest. There’s no doubt that Genève is obviously pulling all the stings they can, and even using their status as an international city to gain all the points they can.
Even the broadcaster could agree on the city’s status, by calling it an “elegant and international” bid.
Zürich
Lastly, we get to the final and fourth bid, which comes from the largest city of the country, Zürich. Easily the favorite and most likely host city of the 2025 contest, but who knows, it all comes down to how the bids have been proposed and how much each bid are dedicated to make the event a great success. This bid is considered the favorite, thanks to the capabilities of the city, by having the largest and busiest airport, more than enough hotel rooms for delegates and fans, and even having the biggest indoor arena.
Speaking of which, the proposed venue is the Hallenstadion. An indoor arena that would be able to welcome 15.000 spectators as well. Transportation and accommodation is also well placed when it comes to getting to and from the arena. The arena also have massive experience hosting concerts, as well as congress events and of course sporting events, no doubt that this is a well prepared bid from Zürich.
The city has also said, that they will spend up towards 20 million Swiss France, with potential an additional 5 million more, in order to support the bid. Not quite near the same amount as the Genève bid, but with everything else being ready, then less money might possibly not affect the bid any negatively, but rather positively.
This final bid has also been descripted as “opulent and cosmopolitan”.
Conclusion
Overall, the Swiss broadcaster, as well as the bidding cities, are all showing hard dedication and commitment, in order to host a incredible event in 2025. All bids have their unique and own presentation plan and ideas. In the end, it really comes down to what kind of concept that appeals the most to the Swiss broadcaster. Some of these bids might make it a bit struggling and some of them sound very safe, but there’s always a chance that one of these bids could present a surprise.
The Swiss broadcaster (SRG SSR) is expected to visit each bidding venue and city, and will then shortlist the candidates down to 2 sometime in July, while the final decision will be made before the end of August.
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Source(s): SRF.ch (In German) and bid sources are listed in the article.
