As SVT gave out the secret “demand” list for the host city 2016, both Tele 2 arena and Friends arena in Stockholm had to pull back. Because of the fact that both arenas are already booked with football matches.
“We have had some discussions. It’s no longer on the map to let the arena host Eurovision Song Contest. It can’t effect our playing schedule too much. Two weeks would work” – Henrik Kindlund, CEO for the football team of Hammarby (Tele 2 Arena)
SVT’s demand list is secret, however we do have some facts:
Hotels, must have a certain standard, be near the arena and a big amount of room is requiered. Dressing rooms, space for dressing rooms connected to the arena must be specified.
Press center, connected to the arena there must be space for press center according to predetermined size.
Accessibility requirements, the arena must be accessible to build, rehearse and prepare the arrangement under about 4-6 weeks.
Flight connections, the arena must be close to flight connections out to Europe.
Same time there have been rumours about Malmö and Malmö Arena pulling out from the game as well. So which arenas are actually possible to host Eurovision Song Contest 2016?
Globen Arena has previous hosted the Eurovision back in 2000, a smaller arena (16 000) that has been in use since 19th February 1989. In 2010 two gondolas was installed that leads up to the top of the Globe, 130 meters above sea level which is called “Skyview”.
Looking at the status of previous hosting cities it should, once again be in Gothenburg with the possibility of using the arena Scandinavium – same as in 1985. In Gothenburg the preparations already started when Zelmerlöw was concidered one of the big contenders. Scandinavium was inaugurated in 1971 but has since then been renovated and developed several times. The arena is a bit smaller than in Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna as they have space for 14 000 visiters during an event.
A new contender is Linköping who previously have hosted several semifinals of Melodifestivalen. The arena has a capacity of 11 500 people and was inaugurated 2004.
“We won’t book the arena in may month before we have recieved a reply from SVT. I might be naive, we don’t have enough seats in the arena, but we have the history, we have arranged several semifinals of Melodifestivalen. It would have been a misconduct to not try” – Anders Thorén, event manager on the Arenabolaget in Linköping.
SVT has chose not to comment the host city question, but say that hopefully it should be solved before August.
At the same time Måns Zelmerlöw and Dolph Lundgren are big contenders to host the show according to Expressen, a Swedish newspaper.
“It is two very good names, that we previously have worked with. But we aren’t there yet” – Martin Österdahl,project leader SVT.
Another person that would like to host Eurovision is Gina Dirawi who previously hosted Melodifestivalen together with Danny Saucedo. Sanna Nielsen is also a big favourite after hosting Melodifestivalen last year.
In which town would you like to see Eurovision Song Contest 2016 and who would you want to host the show? You can discuss all news about Eurovision 2016 on our forum here.
Source: expressen.se
