Since Sweden’s victory in Vienna, numerous cities and venues have come up as potential hosts for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. While Uppsala, Malmö, and Örebro have withdrawn, there are five cities still in the running, with a total of eight potential venues. Which city and venue make the most sense to you? Check out the options and vote below.
Gothenburg: The Scandinavium
Pros: The Scandinavium hosted Eurovision back in 1985. It’s in the middle of Gothenburg and close to key train stations. Gothenburg is also the second largest city in Sweden with a population of just over 500,000. Plus it has experience hosting music events: it has hosted Melodifestivalen semi-finals since 2002.
Cons: If you plan on driving, good luck. Parking on-site is only for the press and sponsors. Also, a lot of snobs will point out that it’s not as large as Stockholm, so you may get bored. But it is home to the Volvo Museum, people! Drive on!
Inside the arena:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jdYpbZ4oQE
Linköping: Saab Arena
Pros: Saab Arena hosted Melodifestivalen semi-finals in 2005, 2008, and 2011. Its schedule is currently empty for the preliminary dates, as well as the rest of May, giving SVT plenty of time to install cameras, wind machines, and confetti droppers.
Cons: Smaller than Gothenburg or Malmö (its population is just over 100,000), it lacks significant public transport. It’s also quite industrial. At times Saab has used the city to manufacture its Gripen fighter jet and the SAAB 340 twin-engine commuter turboprop. Gotta pick ours up before next summer!
Inside the Arena:
Örnsköldsvik: Fjällräven Center
Pros: Who wants to experience some northern Swedish realness, y’all? Örnsköldsvik is the northernmost bidder for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 and is a hop, skip, and a jump away from some of Sweden’s finest landscapes. There’s also a water park.
Cons: Even though the stadium isn’t that small, it’s pretty isolated from major metropolitan areas and airports. We may have to arrive via elk!
Inside the Arena:
Sandviken/Gävle: Göransson Arena
Pros: For those less into large cities and more into countryside, Sandviken is for you. Two hours out of Stockholm, Sandviken offers a small-town atmosphere. It also hosted a Melodifestivalen semi-final in 2010. Gävle is about three times the size of Sandviken, and will host smaller concerts and other events.
Cons: Let’s be real, though. If a stadium can hold 1/2 of your city’s population, you may have a problem. Göransson Arena can also only hold 10,000 people. It’s mostly used for bandy games. We had to Google it to find out what it was. This combination could very well be compared to Herning. If you like the possibility of cow-tipping in Sweden, this is for you.
Inside the Arena:
Stockholm: Ericsson Globe/Annext
Pros: The smallest of all the Stockholm venues is still sizable (16,000 capacity), and hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000. It hosted the Melodifestivalen finals from 2002 to 2012, and has hosted many large concerts (Cher, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and Jay Z, among others). Annext, which is nearby, also has some huge potential to host smaller events, so we can spread the love!
Cons: It’s still Stockholm’s smallest arena in terms of capacity, and with all of the rooms and areas that need to be built for the Eurovision Song Contest, its capacity will have to decrease.
Inside the Arena:
Stockholm: Tele2 Arena
Pros: Stockholm’s newest arena, the Tele2 Arena has a capacity of up to 45,000 people (yowza!) and will eventually host large acts such as Madonna.
Cons: Tele2 has a scheduling conflict due to football, but the team has said they can be flexible if presented with relocation plans. It has not had extensive experience hosting Melodifestivalen or other Eurovision-related events, so may be something of a gamble.
Inside the Arena:
[polldaddy poll=8917858]
LOL https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=195&v=_haw_YDC_zo
I voted Örnsköldsvik. It’s a lovely town in a truly amazing landscape. Eurovision would make a huge impact here and everyone local would do their absolute best to make the event memorable. I have no idea about the technical details though. Fans who wants to attend and party in a big city can do that anytime and almost anywhere tbh. Örnsköldsvik would also be a opportunity to continue the reasonable budget model from Malmö, where costs are under control and you aim at best bang for the buck instead of the all-in mentality. Last but not least: Örnsköldsvik is home… Read more »
@ Oh yes u are right Robyn… The majority of the voters that are much more than 50% want Tele2 Arena to win the bid & host the Vision of 2016…They make the impressive percentage of 58%! Then the Globen Arena follows as the 2nd most voted with 15,5%…If we combine these both then the eurofans that want Stockholm to host the Vision are over 73% here! S we have the rest 26+% voters that selected another candidate city/town leaving out Stockholm.. Goteborg is the 3rd most voted bid with 14,5% of the votes.. Örnsköldsvik { my #1 personal favorite… Read more »
Tele Två! Tele Två!
Fjällräven Center [aka SwedBank Arena] looks so beautiful! <3 The fact that it is isolated would not be a con 4 me at all as i love its isolation! <3 Nothing better than the stadium to be away far from everything & you have to be yourself isolated entering in magical visionary illuminating world..! <3 Really GreAtY experience! <3 It is located next to the ocean sea & it reminds me of the beautiful B&W Hallerne of wonderful Copenhagen <3 🙂 It broke ground in 2004 that the Vision took place in my birthday that year <3 And it opened… Read more »
The fact a city or town may be “isolated” or with “nothing to do” for the rabid visiting EuroFans should absolutely not be a consideration in what venue is chosen. This event is not staged for the benefit of the relatively small crowd that attend the show year after year. It costs millions…and does NOT revolve around you.
Gothenburg looks fun. Can see the city really embracing it and going for it and hopefully create another profit making ESC which I think is really important. Tele2 is ok. But kind of too big. The focus is the back rows is not about the contest anymore. Creates an unfocused ambience and I don’t want Eurovision to be about the crowds I want it to be about the show and contestants. It was interesting this year Vienna turned up the crowd ambience to show off the scale. I do t think this needs to be done as it just creates… Read more »
Fjällräven Center [aka SwedBank Arena] looks so beautiful! <3 The fact that it is isolated would not be a con 4 me at all as i love its isolation! <3 Nothing better than the stadium to be away far from everything & you have to be yourself isolated entering in magical visionary illuminating world..! <3 Really GreAtY experience! <3 It is located next to the ocean sea & it reminds me of the beautiful B&W Hallerne of wonderful Copenhagen <3 🙂 It broke ground in 2004 that the Vision took place in my birthday that year <3 And it opened… Read more »
I hope for the Tele2 Arena! But I also hope that they will just take the half arena so that there can sit 25,000 people! That’s enough! And they could take the outside lights to show the flags of the countries like in Baku 2012 🙂 But they could also do that with the Scandinavium in Gothenburg 🙂 So these two are my favourites 😀 But I think they will take the smallest arena because it’s cheap…
I voted Stockholm- Ericsson Globe/Annext
Lisbon
oh wait…
No Globen again…. It’s Sweden, not San Marino.. they have a lot of choices for arenas.
Try Tele2 Arena, we want a grande show, not the poor show of Malmo…
I definitely think Stockholm should be next years host city, its only logical. Apart from maybe Gothenburg, all the other “cities” up for the bidding are just large towns and are actually pretty isolated. Sweden hasn’t got big cities like Germany (Dusseldorf). Its capital, Stockholm, is its only real “big” city and maybe Gothenburg at a push, but there is definitely more to do and see and easier to get to and around in Stockholm. Either the Tele2 or the Ericsson Globen will do.
I thinkGloben could be a perfect place. It’s big enough. Tele2 Arena is too big.
Not Stockholm > Stockholm thx
London, the Olympic Stadium.
In all seriousness, probably the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. Beautfiul building.
I literally had a dream, and I mean this, that the day before Sweden won Eurovision 2015 that Gothenburg would host 2016.
It’ll be live 2015 but more compact.
Wouldn’t be bad if the capital city hosted. Globe Arena looks legit and perfect.
Let’s remember that this is a television studio – all the millions of Euros that go into it are not for the benefit of the “Eurofans” in the arena, but for the people at home. Enormous does not equal better.
It’s fairly safe to say It’ll be in Stockholm or Göteborg/Gothenburg. I mean, Sweden still want to show off and They are the largest two cities. Plus, to those saying big capacity isn’t better, be glad it’s not in the 65k Friends
Are you people for real? Bigger is not better. What is the obsession with capacity? Don’t y’all know that the semi-finals are hard to fill, and that big arenas are just a bad idea and totally unnecessary – think back to 2000. Globen is the perfect place. Tele2 is just ridiculous.
The pros that Tele2 arena would get picked are because of its big capacity of spectators so will seat many eurofans..
And because it is located in Stockholm that is the center of Sweden & has many hotels…Eurofans obviously have much more choices to get entertained in Stockholm…More vivid night life there..
But Goteborg has these pros as well of course..
Tele2 arena, obviously.
Scandinavium is wonderful too & its my 2nd choice <3
I'm not really myself into Tele2 Arena of Stockholm…Although it has the big pro of its big capacity & can seat too many of us eurofans..
I prefer & pick the beauty & appealing of the arena & not how much seats it has…{Except ok if it would have too low number of seats..}
So its Fjällräven Center or Scandinavium 4 me <3
Tele2 Arena is my favorite
Fjällräven Center [aka SwedBank Arena] looks so beautiful! <3 The fact that it is isolated would not be a con 4 me at all as i love its isolation! <3 Nothing better than the stadium to be away far from everything & you have to be yourself isolated entering in magical visionary illuminating world..! <3 Really GreAtY experience! <3 It is located next to the ocean sea & it reminds me of the beautiful B&W Hallerne of wonderful Copenhagen <3 🙂 It broke ground in 2004 that the Vision took place in my birthday that year <3 And it opened… Read more »
Even though I live in Stockholm I’d prefer Scandinavium.
Hmm…
4 me the arenas that stand out are..
~ Fjällräven Center in Örnsköldsvik..
Although its hard to pronounce this! 😛
~ Saab Arena in Linkoping..
~ Scandinavium in Goteborg..
Tele2
I like both venues in Stockholm the most. But if I am honest, the Gothenburg thing looks pretty cool too.
Tele2 looks awesoke
Tele2 Arena! Nothing else! 😀