We hope Jon Ola Sand has comfortable shoes.
On July 25 and 26 Eurovision’s big boss snaked his way through Dnipro, Kyiv and Odesa — the three cities shortlisted by NTU to potentially serve as Eurovision 2017 host city. Along with the Organising Committee from NTU, he took in the atmosphere of each city, poured over their transport infrastructure and spoke with construction workers in neon green vests. Eurovision isn’t all glitter and sequins, y’all…
In the video above, released by NTU, you can follow Mr Sand’s the journey through Ukraine and take a peak inside the arenas.
Naturally there’s a cameo from Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko. As you’ll remember from our Eurovision 2013 coverage, he’s a huge fan of Zlata Ognevich.
After visiting each of the potential host cities the J.O.S. sat down for a brief interview about his experience and his view on the candidates. We’ve had a listen and paraphrase his most important impressions below.
First of all Jon Ola Sand — or as Lynda Woodruff would say, “Jon Ola-la-la Sand” — is confident that Eurovision in Ukraine will slay. Even if there’s a lot to be done — like renovating entire venues — he feels so much enthusiasm from those involved. So all of you freaking out over Ukraine’s ability to host the contest and to keep fans and contestants safe amid ongoing political tensions with Russia should really chillax.
KYIV
The capital has fantastic infrastructure, two large airports and experience hosting major events.
But it’s not all sweetness and light. Jon Ola doesn’t feel that the city is 100% ready with regards to secondary Eurovision venues, including the press center and Euroclub.
Even the main performance venue has come under fire. In the video above you can see the Palace of Sports, which hosted Eurovision in 2005 and its Junior edition in 2009.
As the commentator says, nothing has changed since then… ouch! A major renovation is required. Failing that, the city plans to use its massive Exhibition Centre as a plan “B”.
DNIPRO
Dnipro faces the same problem. Its proposed venue — the EuroArena — isn’t entirely built yet, but will have a capacity of up to 9,500 when completed.
They city — which is perhaps best-known for producing Soviet-era military equipment from the 1950s onward — isn’t a natural tourist hotspot. As such it doesn’t have the extensive hotel and tourist infrastructure that Kyiv does.
But the big boss says he appreciates their enthusiasm and sees a real desire to expand the local airport to accommodate passenger flow.
ODESSA
Jon Ola thinks Odessa is beautiful. But the arena isn’t ready and it currently lacks a roof.
Officials want to convert Chornomorets Stadium into a concert hall by adding a roof. That’s a big improvement over the tent-like roof they initially planned, which drew sniggers from plenty of Eurovision fans.
Wait… Odessa wants to put a tent in the middle of the arena rather than build a roof? Odessa WHY #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/0FPkJmKKk3
— ESCSamuel (@ESCSamuel) July 22, 2016
The city plans to put the Eurovision Village right next to the arena in Shevchenko park, and those Euro-cars in the above video will serve as the official Eurovision transport. Nice ride with great views – easily Odessa’s greatest asset.
Unfortunately, Jon Ola refused to name his personal favourite, towing the line in Miss Universe style and praising each of the cities. As you do.
But what is your opinion? Which of the potential host cities convinced you the most? Let us know in the comments section below.
@Clyde
I agree.
the tent in the middle of the stadium is simply hilarious.
I hope Odessa wins the bid. They seem to be really willing to make all those changes to make sure that they win the bid.
No matter which city will host ESC 2017, I am confident that it will be a good event.
It’s important to remember, the quality of an ESC-final is depending on the *songs* taking part. And the music is mostly good.
When Edinburgh hosted the MTV awards in 2003 a big tent was used, so I’m thinking that’s what Odessa was going for originally. This roof they are looking at now- will it be permanent?
Alex, so far Palace of Sports has become just a backup venue. Kyiv is going to host it in International Exhibition Center, which the delegation liked a lot.
I’m still crying that L’viv is out, but now I support Odessa.
Kiev had enough
I thought Kiev was the leader but its chances look slimmer now.
the ESC 2005 arena is ugly old and small.
Odessa is a beautiful city and symbolic. They can make the stadium as arena if they are willing to spend money (remember DK 2001) and put the green room inside. The problem with Odessa is that there are no direct flights from other big cities in Europe,..
Well at least Odesa is planning a real roof now.
Odessa still has chances even after bringing pain with that tent 🙂
Lviv would have just slayed….
I just now saw the tent that everyone was talking about. I can’t imagine it working at all. It’s great to see Odesa is now planning to build a roof, because that tent was seriously laughable.
Realistically though, Kyiv will win. They already have all (most) of the infrastructure in place and don’t need to do as much as Odessa or Dnipro.
after seeing video i think odesa has good chances
Maybe that Convention Centre is a good idea?! Remember Copenhagen in 2014? They made fantastic show from nothing.
My personal choice would be Odessa, but I feel it’s going to be Kiev after all. Although thank goodness Odessa is planning to build a roof instead of that ridiculous tent.
if odessa builds a roof thats my choice.
I don’t really expect anything like Dusseldorf 2011 or Baku 2012, but I think it will be good.
Do a Millstreet or Copenhagen and put it in a unique venue – ex-rocket launch pad anyone??
@Eurofanparis – You are of course right. The quality of any ESC-final depends on the songs taking part. Glamour isn’t so important. Music is.
From what I saw, Odessa looks like the best possible host! Dnipro isn’t that good while Kiev is ok. 😀
It seems like Ukraine is not able to host Eurovision right now… they have to work a lot for each city… still I hope for Odesa
Once the host city is able to create a huge atmosphere with a great stage then the size of the crowd doesn’t really matter. Sweden done it this year (though Austria missed the mark).
Odessa confirmed they are planning to build a roof instead of the tent! Thanks God!! Odessa is back as my number one choice!
Well Jacques, Ukraine is not Austria or Azerbaijan. The contest is supposed to be a song and not a venue contest. All countries even the smallest and poorest should have their chance to organize and if the consequence is a small or a little bit ugly venue I don’t really care as long as the songs are good.
Compared to any of these possibilities, Vienna 2015 is Chanel.
There is a serious problem.