The official announcement is due tomorrow evening but it seems the
Portuguese press has leaked the news already. As expected the venue will be
MEO Arena in
Lisbon and the dates for the semifinals May 1 and 3 while the grand final on
May 5. That will mean a full day of work on May 1 on the International worker's day then, but it's not the first time in Eurovision history. However this blogger thinks a week later would make more sense....
In 1988 and 1994 the final took place on April 30, so the workers got to rest the day after. Kind of. If the final is indeed on May 5 it will be the earliers final since 1984 and 1990, when it also took place on that day.
The final date has been slowly moving to May, as the second final in 1957 took place March 3 and all finals until 1966 took place in March as well, including several in the 1970's, too. In the 1970's and 1980's it was usually April and only in the 1990's until our days in May.
The budget for the contest is expected to be around 28 million euros. Cities of Espinho, Matosinhos, Santa Maria da Feira, Guimarães, Lisbon and Portimão applied for the contest but the capital is the only one that really meets all the EBU demands. Also, In recent days, the organization of the festival made a technical visit to Meo Arena and considered that the space meets the necessary technical conditions. It is planned to use equipment with a total weight of 800 tons, which gave the arena in Parque das Nações an advantage, presumably being the only one in Portugal that supports such a heavy assembly. Meo Arena, former Pavilhão Atlântico, holds up to 20,000 people standing and in the case of Eurovision the number depends on the location and the format of the stage, which is still open.
