Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  RTP is not planning to spend too mcuh on hosting Eurovision song contest 2018, despite waiting for some 50 years to host it.  Instead Gonçalo Reis, the Chariman of RTP is boasting to have "the cheapest Eurovision ever!" "I can say today that we are going to make the Eurovision Festival the cheapest ever and I am confident that our creative teams will develop one of the most interesting Eurovision ever, Our creative teams are developing the concept to convey the image of a contemporary Portugal, a Portugal open to the world, a culture of inclusion, a culture of tolerance, a positive culture. This will be a mobilizing project for all creative industries, for Lisbon and for Portugal, that will design the country and help it go with this flow of great notoriety, this positive wave that the country as a whole is having, in terms of international projection, Eurovision is a spectacle, it is an event that goes beyond RTP. RTP has all the conditions to produce a major...

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 c...

RTP was surprisingly quickly to announce Lisbon and MEO Arena as the venue for the Eurovision song contest 2018. What an anticlimax, wasn't it? Even if it's still pretty much clear that's the only possible and suitable one, soon enough Portuguese may have realized some drama and suspence was expected and useful to keep the project in media for the months to come so... first enter Faro and Guimarães, even if they don't meet the major requirements like a suitable arena and international airport but still want to be involved in the bidding process for the fun of it.  Portugal's second city Porto quickly said  não, obrigado , but seems now willing to enter the game through Europarque in Santa Maria da Feira, some 25 kms from the city. The multi use conference center has a paviglion of 11.000 capacity. Let the televovela "EuroHost 2018" begin..... 

RTP didn't waste time with useless open calls and submission and wasting everyone's time and energy not to mention money like has happened in previous years when cities have been welcomed to submit their proposals in name of openess and fairness. Or then they just don't have other choices (Porto?) as this MEO Arena in Lisbon , formerly known as Pavilhão da Utopia and Pavilhão Atlântico and built for EXPO 1998 was chosen in 24 hours or so. Then again, maybe they came prepaired, after all RTP has had 53 years to think about it! It's one of the largest indorr arenas in European Union with capacity of 20.000. Now that sorted out RTP can put their energy for other matters. Like the image of the show, logo and slogan. I hope they take inspiration of the lovely Portugues ceramic tiles I just love!