Eurovision fans are the life of every edition of the contest, cheering the loudest and waving the flags that give the show its larger-than-life, sporting-event feel. That’s one reason why every year Eurovision organisers reserve special fan packages — and at a discounted rate — that give fans prime seating (or standing) near the stage during the live shows. On the one hand the tradition is a thank you for being the lifeblood of the contest. On the other hand it makes for good TV: You want Eurovision lovers filling the front rows…not corporate sponsors in suits or casual viewers who simply have the money to turn up.
Unfortunately this seemed to be lost on the organisers of Eurovision 2017 in Ukraine, who, just hours before the official launch of ticket sales this evening, had made no plans for fans. Thankfully they have now reversed their decision following fan outrage and, we suspect, EBU nudging and WILL sell fan packages after all.
Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand confirmed the news on Twitter.
For those who asked: Fan tickets will be made available through OGAE after all, as they confirmed. More info in the days to come
— Jon Ola Sand (@jonolasand) February 14, 2017
Before the reversal
Eurovision fans the world over were dealt the unfortunate blow on February 13 when the international bureau of the Organisation générale des amateurs de l’Eurovision (OGAE) revealed that there would be no special arrangements for fans this year — despite their prolonged efforts and indeed support from the EBU.
@wiwibloggs My reaction to no OGAE tickets or fan accreditation #eurovision pic.twitter.com/kDrtDmq8oC
— Dan Kelsey ? (@mr_kelsey_) February 14, 2017
Eurovision 2017: Fan ticket packages
OGAE fan clubs received the news yesterday. This is the message that the United Kingdom chapter of OGAE sent to its members.
Dear all,
This is a very disappointing and unfortunate post to have to write. We have now received communication from the OGAE International Bureau, who have been informed tonight that, regrettably, there will be no special arrangements for OGAE members, and you are advised to try in the public sale which gets underway tomorrow evening.
This is obviously hugely disappointing, as the international OGAE network has had regular discussions with the EBU (who have been very supportive) and the host broadcaster, and we were seemingly on track for an OGAE pre-sale. In fact data about ticket requests from each club was formally submitted today at the request of the agent and host broadcaster, so to have this news come just a few hours later is a huge shock and disappointment.
In further disappointing news, we have received confirmation that there will be no “F2”-style accreditations, and OGAE members will not have access to Euroclub (which we understand will be a small and not necessarily Eurovision-themed venue).
Please understand that we had been hoping right up to this afternoon to have a great ticketing arrangement for fans. All of us on the OGAE UK Committee (who, let us make clear, will try in the public sale like everyone else) would like to thank the OGAE International Bureau for all their strenuous events, which have included visits to Kyiv.
An email will go out this evening to all those who were in the ticket ballot.
Sorry for such disappointing news after many years of successful ticket allocations for OGAE members.
The OGAE UK Committee
@wiwibloggs Fewer fans will travel to #Kiev, #Ukraine will suffer substantial losses of revenue.
— E. Schmidt (@berlin_esc) February 14, 2017
Eurovision 2017: No Fan Accreditation
The message sent to OGAE UK members also stated that there will be no F2 press accreditation.
F2 status and what that grants fans varies by year, but it has, at times, gives select fans from each country the chance to attend press conferences and rehearsals, and allowed them to access Euroclub.
According to the same statement, Euroclub will be relatively small (and therefore certainly smaller than the purpose-built venue in Stockholm) — and it won’t be Eurovision-themed.
Welcome to #EuroClub 2017. Let’s get this party started! #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/7vyVyWoSjY
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) February 13, 2017
“Why ukraine does eveything to ruin the contest?”
seriously, you don’t understand who’s doing it?
Good tries, but ESC is to happen as planned 😀
Apparently, 21 members of top-level staff organising the contest in Ukraine have now resigned. Seriously, at this point the EBU might as well hire the fans to run the contest themselves!! 😀
payment approved, but no signs of an email with the tickets attached. I have waited an hour… still no email. ????.
Phew, crisis averted! I got my ticket in the middle of the night! Hurray!!! This will be my first Eurovision experience. And I have now tickets for the final AND for the final dress rehearsal! ????????????
This is goin’ to be my second Eurovision experience. I am so excited. 😀
Phew. I was so worried! Just one problem: I don’t have enough money to go to Ukraine. So I have no choice but to watch the shows online. 🙁
You all die for free things right? You can do anything for getting free stuff. Just for once go and pay for your tickets. That is really absurd when you say that if its not free then we are not attending it. But everybody but this so-called group pays for what it gets. But those group members are crying bcuz Ukraine is not paying for their tickets damn such a tragedia! If you cant afford then watch it from TV thats pretty simple. Being from a so-called group gives you what kind of privilege thqt u think u dont have… Read more »
This will be my first year in Eurovision! I couldn’t get any ticket for the final, but I get some for the final dress rehearsal in the fan zone!
Is this experience comparable to attend to the gran finale? I still hope to get some fan pack from OGAE this saturday, but in case that this is not possible, I hope that the final dress rehearsal plus the whole week in Kiev is going to be a mayor experience 🙂
@Purple Mask: finally I received the ticket for the dress rehearsal (I ordered it because I couldn’t select a seat for the final – veeeery difficult, I succeded in the end… The stress! ;)) ). Hopefully the ticket for the actual final will follow shortly…
You’re not the only one Daniel – I see there are lots of tweets about ticketing issues. I can’t help you i’m afraid. 🙁
@Paul – well, I’ve received the payment confirmation, but no ticket!!! :((( WTF!!!???
I’ve been sent PDF tickets with payment confirmation and then 40 mins later an email advising the payment has been unsuccessful so it seems things are going well!!
I apologize, I don’t know what happened just now :(.
FEBRUARY 13, 2017Eurovision 2017 tickets go on sale February 14 priced between €8 and €500 EUROVISION 2017 TICKETS GO ON SALE FEBRUARY 14 PRICED BETWEEN €8 AND €500 24 by William Lee Adams • Eurovision Song Contest 2017, Ukraine • Tags: Eurovision tickets, NTU, tickets On February 8 Ukraine’s Anti-Monopoly Committee cancelled the scheduled sale of Eurovision 2017 tickets. And today the two key figures planning Eurovision 2017 resigned over a management dispute and a lack of transparency in operations. But it’s not all bad news out of Kyiv. Today the European Broadcasting Union finally and officially confirmed that Eurovision… Read more »
@uefa2020 actually, any disorganization hasnt happened, all funds raised, tickets on the final sold, and everything still in line with calendar (even without SVT help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
All disorganization is in esc fan’s brains:)
with reverse disrespect to esc fan community from Ukraine:)))
I wouldn’t risk wasting any money on tickets- not convinced it will be going ahead in Ukraine- please cast your vote wisely this year- don’t just vote for the best song but also the best country to host next year.
So that Oikos article…is that really a real ticket that someone bought and posted online? There solves your ticket problem. Just print that one out and make sure you get to the arena before that author does! 😀
@uefa2020 Well.. cristism is ok. But Statements like “who did expect a seamless flow of event organized in Ukraine? LOL” is no critism – it’s insulting and I can understand why People are offended.
So it looks like arrangements are being made now – good. Better late than never. I respectfully disagree with some of the negative and disproportionate opinions towards the whole country of Ukraine on this blog. While it might have been better for everyone if the organisers had admitted defeat and told a richer (and less politically problematic) country to host the contest this year instead, Ukraine completely pulling out of the ESC would be a big loss for everyone. Focussing just on the music, Ukraine quite simply has been fantastic every year. Now onto wider issues: Most of the time,… Read more »
@Magistr interesting logic. Are Ukrainians the ones who are insulted in this case, or Eurovision fans? We love Ukrainians, we love Ukraine… but how on Earth is it possible to be so irresponsible and impudent? Didn’t NTU know they wouldn’t manage to raise appropriate funds? Couldn’t they ask another country to organize the event or help them in organization. If you’d better not take part rather than hear criticism, I would be glad if you don’t participate next year.
As ukrainian I think would be better for our country not to participate in ESC never again. 10 or 15 other small/poor countries should ignore ESC too, if they dont want to be insulted by fans or russian trolls.
I’ll ask again – who did expect a seamless flow of event organized in Ukraine? LOL
@Toinousse Thanks!
Mmm I didn’t think the gays would be welcome in Ukraine and this proves it. The organisers will be coming back to the fan clubs when they realise that the locals would rather buy food and pay bills rather than buy tickets for ESC 2017.
Here’s a comment I saw @mawnck use on reddit which I completely agree with: “Given that things aren’t well, it makes sense that accommodating the fan club would be the first perk jettisoned. It might be a shock to OGAE to discover where they stand in the pecking order, but when a show has 200 million viewers, ticking off a few thousand OGAE members by taking away their (mighty generous) perks isn’t really going to be that big a deal.” Also, is Euroclub even necessary or important? Do the 200 million + viewers of the Grand Final care about what… Read more »
Oh here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/EurovisionCoverage/posts/10154342107616305
@Vladimir P. The moderator of our French eurovision forum said that he got the information from OGAE international. But I do not have the link. He is not the joking kind so it’s probably true.
Why ukraine does eveything to ruin the contest?
Why ukraine does anything to ruin the contest?
How do you think, what kind of tickets are for 500 euros? Some VIP seats or smth like this?
isn’t anybody willing to fly to ukraine for esc 2017 already a diehard eurovision fan? you don’t need to be a member from a club for that xD
@Toinousse Would you mind sharing the source?
I’ve read the exact opposite a few minutes ago! That there would absolutely be packages.
We found the winner from Poland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivq4EgsakUw