UPDATE (19.55 CET): Ukrainian broadcaster NTU has now denied Borislav Bereza’s claim and say that Kyiv is still in the running to the Eurovision 2017 host city.
Is Kyiv out of the running to be the Eurovision 2017 host city? The Ukrainian Russian-language paper, Segodnya, has published an article today, stating the host city choice is now between Dnipro and Odessa. This comes after Ukrainian MP Borislav Bereza made a comment on his Facebook, “congratulating” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko on his city’s efforts. Those efforts do not seem to have been enough according to Mr. Bereza, though, as the organisers are not satisfied Kyiv will be able to host Eurovision.
Kyiv’s host city proposal video for Eurovision 2017
Now, of course, this is only one source who is stating this. Mr. Bereza lost to Klitschko in the Kyiv mayoral race, so he might have other reasons to criticise the bid. There has been no official word from NTU or the EBU on this or since the final decision was postponed. This was so that cities could “elaborate their bids” and it might just be that Kyiv were unable to convince the organisers at this stage. Jon Ola Sand was also fairly critical of parts of the Kyiv bid, including plans for the press centre, Euroclub etc.
If it’s true, this leaves Dnipro and Odessa in the running, both of which have come in for praise and criticism in their bids. Dnipro may struggle with its infrastructure for such a big tourist event, but Jon Ola praised their enthusiasm, which includes plans to expand their airport. That won’t, however, solve the issue of the area surrounding their “EuroArena” stadium being not quite so idyllic:
Odessa, meanwhile, had fans up in arms over plans to simply put a tent over the roof of the Chernomorets stadium. The city now seems to be sourcing a proper roof for the stadium, however. Jamala, meanwhile, was not quite so enthusiastic about Odessa hosting the contest when we spoke to her in London:
What do you think about this latest decision in the Eurovision 2017 host city race? Are you looking forward to Dnipro or Odessa 2017, or did you have your heart set on Kyiv. Let us know in the comments section!
Literally Kiev would be OK, probably the best option imo… Big city that could handle all the visitors, plus former experience, bigger airport, better infrastracture etc. What could go wrong? I don’t think Odessa’s venue will be state-of-the-art even after the renovations… Plus no airline connections… And Dnipro… Really? So many beautiful places in Europe, why should the ESC end up there? And where will they get the money from? Is it safe there? Sometimes I come to think it would be better if Russia won it… At least it would be Sochi!
Seems that there is a group in the government really pushing Dnipro hard. It’s the closest location to separatist held areas. Somebody trying to make a statement here? Hopefully the EBU will do the sensible thing and go with Odessa.
#Odessa2017
My Original ranking before the cut was;
1 // Lviv
2 // Odessa
3 // Kharkiv
4 // Kyiv
5 // Dnipro
6 // Kherson
So I was upset when Lviv was cut,but Odessa is just quite an amazing city so I would love for them to host <3
@Chirs
Thank you for your reply.
It’s a weird situation for sure, I went and checked the ESC 2005 Wikipedia page and you’re right, they used Kyiv in the logo there too, but the article itself refers to “The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place at the Palace of Sports in Kiev, Ukraine” and the official Wikipedia article for the city is under Kiev too.
I guess either is fine, it’s no big deal, was just curious 🙂
Dnipro is very small for such huge event.
Odessa for the win but please make the stadium look good and ensure audio high quality.
Also ask for more direct flights during the contest.
Hello Maxie #1,
There are two different ways of spelling:
???? (Ukrainian) – Kyiv
???? (Russian) – Kiev
I hope that I helped you
Hi Maxie,
It’s a fair comment – the reason why we’re doing this is because the EBU are using the “Kyiv” spelling for the city. It’s likely that they’ll use this on all the official logos etc. if Kyiv does somehow still host the contest.
Also I was pretty sure Kiev had it in the bag, if this is true then I’ll return to backing Odessa
Sorry to nitpick but why do you always refer to Kiev as Kyiv! 😀 You wouldn’t call Vienna as Wien would you?
Hopefully Dnipro