Short press conference June 21 summary

YLE held a press conference and confirmed Hartwall Areena (or Helsinki Areena as it is officially called) as the venue. The dates are those chosen by EBU even if many feel it would have been a good idea to postpone them by a week or two (Finnish weather can be rather tricky in May but generally by the end of May it is quite nice and nature is in full bloom).
The draw for the running order will be decided in the delegations meeting in Helsinki March 12. By that date all the national finals have to be over and songs and videos ready for presentation.
The budget is 13 million euros and will come from YLE, EBU and external sponsors. How the sponsorships will be done is yet unclear as Finnish law prohibits advertising on YLE channels. YLE plans to have a "Made in Finland" show without foreign help except renting for some extra technology for the occasion.
The city of Helsinki is widely involved in the happening, promising a week long party for all its citizens and the whole of Finland. There will be dozens of concerts happening all over the city during the week and the city will be decorated for Eurovision. I think the partying will start with Vappu on April 30, the Finnish carnival extraordinaire ... Great!
Hartwall Areena will be the sole venue (not with the Helsinki Fair Center or so) and the press center will be built next to the venue for the occasion. Several other modifications will be done inside the venue. Its full capacity is around 15.000 people but probably around 10-12.000 will be the seating number for Eurovision. The venue will have its 10th anniversary in 2007. Over 8 million people have attended it since it opened and it has hosted, for example, Ice Hockey World Championships and is Finland's biggest indoor arena.
Ticket sales should start sometime in the fall but I think it will be only early next year as usual.
The theme and the presenters and more details will be revealed later this year. YLE is now working out the details and selecting the team. The general idea seems to be it has to be something new and forget about Santa Claus, Lapland, Nokia and the other Finnish clichés and follow Lordi's example of something new and different, something new to Eurovision.

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Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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