Eurovision 2020: Amsterdam drops out of the host city race; Five cities continue in the process
The City of Amsterdam made public today that it will not continue in the host city race for the Eurovision Song Contest next year. After this development Amsterdam is the fourth city to drop out of 2020 Host Bidding race, leaving five cities to give the battle for the right to host the next Eurovision.
It is clear now that the Eurovision Song Contest will not take place Amsterdam as Dutch local media . The Mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema announced today that the capital city will not continue in the host city bid process 2020 Eurovision Song Contest . As the three potential venues of the city are already fully booked during the Eurovision period, Amsterdam’s candidacy found itself in a dead end finding a place to host the competition.
The Eurovision Song Contest need a venue available for at least 8 weeks. Amsterdam has three marvelous venues that can host the competition: The Ziggo Dome, the RAI Convention Centre and the Johann Cruijff Arena. Initially Amsterdam was planning to host the Ziggo Dome, but the venue is fully booked and rearranging the event was impossible in order to host the competiton.
The Mayor of Amsterdam Ms. Femke Halsema wrote to the City Council of Amsterdam:
The main reason for Amsterdam’s withdrawal seems to be a message from the Ziggo Dome stating that the venue will not be available in the relevant period next year due to bookings and reservations that cannot be canceled.
The RAI Amsterdam and the Johan Cruyff Arena are also not available and the AFAS Live Music Room would not be large enough to host the event.
Amsterdam wishes Rotterdam, Utrecht, Den Bosch, Arnhem and Maastricht every success in the preparation of their bidbook.
Although the city tried to find other options to host the event, no other solution seemed feasible. Ms. Halsema went on saying on the issue:
After working out this concept, the whole project appears to be too complex and with too many uncertainties to ultimately offer a fully-fledged alternative to the Ziggo Dome.
The 2020 Host City Bid Process
The 2020 Eurovision Host city race saw a total of nine cities initially apply to host the next Eurovision Song Contest. Leuwaarden , The Hague , Breda and today Amsterdam decided to drop out of the race leaving the process with five candidate cities:
- Rotterdam
- Arnhem
- Maastricht
- Utrecht
- Den Bosch
LeuwaardenThe HagueBredaAmsterdam
After Amsterdam’s withdrawal Rotterdam seems to imerge as the hot favorite to win the host city race, especially after yesterday’s announcement by the Province of South Holland that it would contribute 1 million euros to Rotterdam if it gets to hold the competition next year. On the other hand the Municipality of Utrecht stated that it does not wish to spend such amounts for the competition weakening the city’s candidacy.
The cities have had time period of 4 weeks to prepare their proposal and the candidacy file that will support them. Through their documents they must have answers and solutions to issues that have to do with the location where the event will be hosted, the facilities for the side events, the accommodation , infrastructure and technical issues and transportation means and accessibility as well.The candidate cities have time up to Wednesday , July 10 to submit their files and proposals. However up to this date any other city or region that is interested in hosting the next Eurovision Song Contest can submit its file-application. All files will be handed to the three Dutch broadcasters that NPO, AVROTROS and NOS in order to review all proposals. The final decision on which city will host the next Eurovision Song Contest will be revealed in August.
