Israel 2019 : Tel Aviv one of the front runners in Eurovision 2019 hosting bid.
According to the local newspaper Haaretz , based on its unveiled source in the Israeli Ministry of Finance, the city of Tel Aviv is starting to gather even more possibilities of hosting the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest next year. As potential venue of the event the Pavillon 2 seems to fit the case , having already hosted the European Judo Championship games and Festigal , an annual music festival for under aged.
Of course no one can forget the previous statements made by the country’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Minister of Culture Miri Regev who both insisted in Jerusalem being the next ESC host city.
Meanwhile , the national broadcaster KAN has already put forward the procedures in order to secure the necessary budget of the event , which according to average estimations will be around 16,6 to 22,1 million dollars. As soon as KAN secures the amount for the budget it will start the process among the 4 cities , contenders of hosting the next Eurovision Song Contest. During this process each city’s officials must support their files proving that they can guarantee the contest’s implementation of plans by complying with the available budget.
Although Jerusalem has hosted twice the Contest in the Pais Arena, the ministry of Finance stated that such choice might face problems due to the size and the range of Eurovision Song Contest in nowadays. The two weeks schedule of rehearsals and live shows make the event demanding while Saturday’s holiday must be respected. However the Mayor’s resignation has made things even more complicated around Jerusalem’s candidacy.
On the other hand , Tamir Dayan, CEO of the convention center Tel Aviv Fairgounds, stated to Haaretz that if Jerusalem doesn’t host the contest, they will be glad to do so. The capacity of the specific venue is just above 10.000 seats while Altice Arena this year had a capacity of 18.000 seats. However, according to same sources, Haifa has a lot of possibilities of hosting the event , but has to face the two football teams’ schedule that use the city’s stadium, Sammy Ofer Stadium.
These latest news and developments confirm the recent reports from Reuters that cut down the possibilities of Jerusalem being the ESC 2019 host city. We remind you that according to EBU’s announcement the final dates and location will be revealed until September.
Stay tuned on the INFE Network and its regional sites for more news about your favorite song contest.
