EBU and BBC have announced this morning the short list of the cities that are still running to host the Eurovision song contest 2023 on behalf of Ukraine under Russian aggression and full blown war. Short list might sound all but short when we still have seven (7) possible host candidates. On the other hand if they were almost 20 to start with it is sort of a short list, isn't it?
Out with London and Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol, Darlington, Edinburgh. Brighton, Cardiff, Derry, Nottingham and Sunderland withdraw their bid already before the deadline and the odd Prudhoe and Wolverhampton just made some fun to gain of publicity as in these cases always. I admit I never heard of those towns before, and probably never will again.
So, who's left? In alphabetical order: the 1998 host Birmingham and debutantes Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.
EBU and BBC are expected to announce the winnning bid later this fall once they have fine tuned their offers and plans. This year is exceptional as they are meant to incorporate Ukrainian feel to the contest somehow and that must be evident already in the plans.
Birmingham bids with Resorts World Arena (15.685 seats), opened in 1980 and went through major renovation in 2008-2009 with added seating up to 16.000. Another major face lift was planned for 2020 but due to Covid-19 it was put on hold and the new 21.600 seats arena is still a dream only. That would have made it the biggest indoor arena in the UK.
Glasgow bids with OVO Hydro, opened in 2013 with 12.300 seats. In 2019 it was the world's second best selling arena with only New York's Madison Square Gardens ahead of it with over one million visitors a year. It's also known from that Eurovision movie.....
Leeds bids with First Direct Arena opened in 2013 with 13.781 capacity. It is considered one of England's landmark buildings and it won the best new venue award in the world in 2014.
Liverpool's choice is M&S Bank Arena, opened in 2008 and expanded in 2012-2017 with current capacity of 11.000.
Manchester bids with AO Arena, opened in 1995 with 21.000 capacity. It is infamous for that Ariana Grande concert with suicide bomber who killed 22 and injured more than 500......
Newcastle goes for Utilita Arena, also opened in 1995 with capacity of 11.000.
Also Sheffiled goes with Utilita Arena, opened in 1991 and capacity of 13.600.
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