According to the Dutch broadcaster , NPO, the Eurovision 2020 host city race has come down to two cities after the elimination of three candidate cities. What is it going to be, Rotterdam or Maastricht?

NPO, has made it clear that Rotterdam or Maastricht are the two cities that will battle for the right to host the next Eurovision Song Contest in The Netherlands next year. After last week’s book bid event where we saw 5 cities hand in their bid books, today the Dutch broadcaster announced that the elimination of Arnhem, Utrecht and Den Bosch , turning the host city race a case for two cities : 

• Maastricht (MECC Maastricht)
• Rotterdam ( Rotterdam Ahoy)

After careful examination, the special evalutation committee – in collaboration with technical experts and the EBU – chose to not to look further in the proposals from Arnhem, Den Bosch and Utrecht. Maastricht and Rotterdam provided more adequate files meeting the conditions that have to do with the venue, infrastructure, trasportation means and the accomodation capacity in order to live up to the contest’s requirements. 

Sietse Bakker, Executive Producer of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest stated after the last development: 

All the cities and venues have put a lot of effort into their bids. We were impressed with all the proposals and would like to thank everyone involved so far for their positive input and commitment. We are convinced Maastricht and Rotterdam offer everything that a Host City requires.

And added saying: 

“We are hoping the other cities will maintain their enthusiasm for the Song Contest. We’d love to discuss in the coming months how we can involve them in the event next year.”

Therefore after the nine initially candidate cities which ended up to be five , today we see the final two that will battle for hosting the next edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. What is it going to be Maastricht or Rotterdam?

Lets takes a closer look to the two cities which ambition to host the next competition:

Maastricht

The city of Maastricht has expressed its intentions to host Eurovision 2020. The city is the provincial capital of  Limburg and lays on the southeastern side of The Netherlands. The small  Maastricht Aachen Airport is nearby connecting the city with several international destinations. The city received major publicity when the Treaty of Maastricht was signed there on February 7, 1992 bringing the European Union one step further.

The city plans to hold the competition at  MECC Maastricht.

MECC Maastricht

MECC Maastricht is in the center of the city , a 5 min walk from train station  Maastricht-Randwyck and very close to Maastricht Central Station. The venue is easily accessed from several airports among which: : Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport, Eindhoven Airport, Cologne-Bonn Airport, Dusseldorf Airport, Brussels Charleroi Airport,  Brussels Zaventem Airport.

Rotterdam

The city and port of Rotterdam is one of the hot favorites to host Eurovision 2020 at the Rotterdam Ahoy. The Dutch port has hosted in the past another Eurovision event, that of  Junior Eurovision 2007.

Rotterdam is the second biggest city of the country , a significant located port combining modern sky scrappers with modern architecture. It has an extended transportation network, significant number of hotels while near to the city is  Rotterdam The Hague Airport with direct flights to several European destinations.

Rotterdam Ahoy

Rotterdam Ahoy is in the heart of the city and exists since 1971. It can welcome 15.000 spectators during a concert. The space there has seen major stars holding their concerts among which : Lady Gaga, Queen, Shakira, Kylie Minogue, Gloria Estefan, U2, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears etc