On August 30 we’ll find out whether the Eurovision Song Contest is taking place in Maastricht or in Rotterdam. AVROTROS has revealed this today.
Maastricht and Rotterdam have to be patient for another three weeks: the NPO will announce on Friday, August 30, which city may house the Eurovision Song Contest next year. The two cities had until today to provide the latest additional information. It is now up to the NPO team to make a decision based on the elaborated host city plans.
Initially, five cities wanted to bring in the Song Festival, but after studying the bid books, Utrecht, Arnhem and Den Bosch dropped out.
Maastricht and Rotterdam remained in the race and site visits followed mid-July. That was to get acquainted, but also to get a feel for the audience. Maastricht comes with the MECC and Rotterdam has Ahoy. Both locations have their pros and cons
Rotterdam and Maastricht show what ‘their’ Eurovision Song Contest would look like:
Rotterdam is very experienced in organizing major events in Ahoy. The MTV EMA’s, North Sea Jazz and the ABN AMRO Tennis tournaments are few examples of big events that have been held in Ahoy Rotterdam. The fixed grandstands may seem like an advantage, but they can be a disadvantage when placing a huge stage.
In Maastricht they have less experience with concerts, but this hall also has possibilities for organizing a large festival, according to the organization. The hotel rooms are another asset of Maastricht, of which they have already reserved 3000 of them. Rotterdam has that too, but unlike Maastricht, they have not agreed on a fixed room rate. It is unclear whether this will change or not.
How the decision will be announced on August 30 is not yet entirely clear. But the NPO has already hinted that they want to make something special out of it. After all, it is 44 years since the Netherlands won the Eurovision Song Contest for the last time.
It is known that Duncan Laurence was spotted in both cities last week while recording a promotional video.
Specifications for both candidate venues
MECC Maastricht
Capacity: around 11,000 – 12,000 people
Floor area: 10,225 m2 (there must still be stands on it)
Free height: approximately 12.5 meters
Ahoy Rotterdam
Capacity: around 11,000 – 12,000 people
Floor area: 3300 m2 (stands are already around it)
Free height: approximately 23 meters
Where do you hope ESC 2020 will be? Are you excited for the host city reveal?
Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
The only right place is ROTTERDAM , for sure !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go Amsterdam! from the us
By the way, in the ESCU forum, someone tried to open the source page of the AVROTROS ESC homepage and saw the word Rotterdam. Not sure what to think about it, or whether it’s 100% true, but if it’s a joke it sure is good to fill up the day.
I mentioned that yesterday and it was taken down (probably for mentioning a rival ESC news site). If this is indeed THEIR source code, and they’re preparing the page for the announcement (or, perhaps they have already prepared the page), and there is no duplicate source anywhere for Maastricht, then it’s a done deal and we’re going to Ahoy… 🙂
…Or it could really be fish bait for us, and they’ve already given MECC a call. 🙁
Let me clarify: If that Web source page is for a page that AVROTROS has NOT posted yet, and it is already in preparation to be posted, and there is NO duplicate source page for Maastricht (and I’m thinking that whoever found that Rotterdam source page went looking for one for Maastricht), then this battle is over.
I remember Malmoe being so small and almost everyone complaint about it, then Kyiv and this year Tel Aviv being tiny.
God Maastricht is on a whole other level of micro-venue.
Rotterdam is the international choice that I personally would travel to in May!
The fact that some salty size queens like you b!tch about venue/stage sizes almost every year is irrelevant. Nobody can take seriously a person that call a 10000 square meters pavilion “tiny”. That is plain dumb.
If Rotterdam doesn’t get chosen then something weird has happened.
cough couch corruption, no I think we should be more open about Exhibition centers hosting esc. After all other big events like MTV emas this year is hosted in FIBES convention exhibition centre in Sevilla, Spain the picture below.
And last year it was held in a exhibition center in Bilbao.
Bizkaia is a HUGE arena, and FIBES is pretty small compared to TLV Expo. And EMA 2016 is hosted in Ahoy, so yeah, not because we’re not open to expos.
Yes it is, But bizkaia is a big arena with little in height. But as we all know a lot of people don’t like Eurovision’s hosting in expos, unlike EBU that doesn’t really seem to care wherever it’s hosted in a Arena or Centre hall. That’s was what I meant!
The two times Eurovision was held in expos as for alternative reasons: Kyiv 2017 being a reserve venue since Palace of Sports was booked and TLV 2019 being the choice to avoid Jerusalem backlash. Chances are these reasons didn’t exist, both would still prefer something like Palace of Sports or Pais Arena. Arenas are also better acoustically and atmospherically, so it would look better on TV, too. So once again, not because we’re not open to expos, but since Netherlands has no major conflicts and has an already qualified arena, why not use that?
Then again it could’ve been Amsterdam (even though they didn’t want to get in the way) or Eindhoven (if they had the nerve to express interest)
Where will the Commentator boxes be in MECC?
I mean the stands will take a lot of space also the greenroom
That’s about the last of their problems. Tel Aviv showed that those booths can be squeezed using literally ANY configuration.
https://twitter.com/AmySpiro/status/1129112224658788353/photo/1
live in Liege, and I can say that maastricht is the only right choice here. Maastricht offers delicious food and wine, they have the 5th best transportation system behind Tokyo, London, Zurich and Seoul. The hall has a lot of square meters and is the 2nd most specious space in the Netherlands! Everyone is happy in Maastricht, just lean back and relax and enjoy all the smells, the sounds and forget all the noise from bigger crowded cities. After all Maastricht is very european and is accessible from Hamburg, Liege and even Luxemburg.
#MAASTRICHTMECC2020 #LIEGE2021 <3
Hmph…Luxembourg isn’t even participating.
What the hell Hamburg?! Paris is even more near :/
Rotterdam for real, please make it happen
Everybody praying for Rotterdam, but some people kinda know that the answer is Maastricht already in the comments. Is there any rumours or facts that I don’t know about? or is it only predictions?
The whole lot of them are predictions
I don’t care if the Maastricht venue is “small” – people said that about Tel Aviv and yet the semi-finals still were not full. Are they ever? Bigger does not equal better.
But i hope you do care about Karen miller heidkes head
But Ahoy is already a proper concert arena, that is a big advantage.
As well as that it has a higher ceiling height than Maastricht’s venue. Plus Rotterdam hosted Junior Eurovision in 2007. A couple of fun facts for ya. ?
The venue was not full because the tickets were expensive due to a small number of seats which were available to the public (about 7500). Hotels were expensive as well. There wasn’t a lot of tourists in the city. Also, when you have a small venue, ticket prices rise. Furthermore, that Maastricht’s venue has a low ceiling.
Okay, that explains this year. What about all the other years the semi-finals were not full?
Yes they are, look 2018 Lisbon, Düsseldorf 2011 and Stockholm 2016. All these 3 had good venues that people actually would like to attend. That’s why these boring exhibition centers don’t succeed. It could also depend on which country who is hosting since Germany, Sweden and Portugal is more accessible to travel to. Israel ukraine etc is a little far away
Please Ahoy! They hosted junior eurovision back in 2007 and they did an amazing job. MECC is way too low for me and I like it when the arena has a real arena vibe!
I feel like it should be Rotterdam but it’s going to be Maastricht.
Maastricht MECC 2020
12.5m ceiling. Remember the crying about Expo Tel Aviv being too low? It was 17.5m tall. So imagine 5m less than that
Sure, but can that be changed? Other host venues have changed their specifications for the sake of the contest, there’s no reason the current bidders can’t do the same.
Why waste money for a higher roof on a expo centre, when you have a proper arena?
It’s not necessarily a matter of a higher roof, but perhaps a lower floor. This has been done before. Sure, the “proper arena” has a lot going for it – I’m just saying that this particular criterion need not be the deciding factor.
are they going to dig then? no that won’t happen the costs will rise even more then.
I mean the height is 12,5m. The stage needs to be 1,70m high. The light rigs take approximately 2-4 meters. And then we have all the flags 1m
That’s only 5,3 meters left. I would’ve liked the idea of Maastricht’s vision if it was 1980-90 even 00 until 2013 when the standing audience was introduced. It takes a lot of space in camera shots, unfortunately..
Realistically, we also want more income with less outcome. Changing a roof of an expo is just a waste.
That’s a concrete building, it’s not made of cards. You can’t just “raise the roof”, that means rebuilding the whole pavilion in less than a year. Plus, WHY? If there’s a taller ready to go venue available?
For me Rotterdam, it looks the one being the most prepared to host.
“I’m tired, tired of competing”, so I’ll keep it short.
Pro Maastricht:
* huge symbolic meaning
* huge cultural and historical meaning
* beautful, elegant and classy city
* intimate atmosphere
* flawless potential Euroclub location
* great honour to the core of Eurovision!!
Please, just select Maastricht and let us create the most amazing atmosphere that is possible!
Most of those qualities can be related with Rotterdam as well: it has a huge symbolic meaning, being the biggest European harbour, often callled the “Gateway to Europe”. It has a huge cultural and historic meaning, with it’s history going back to 13th century, almost complete destruction during WWII and city’s “rise like a phoenix”, it was European Capital of Culture in 2001 and many festivals are organized throughout the year. It sure is a beautiful, elegant and classy city, and though it maybe lacks the intimacy a bit, I see its liveliness as an advantage for many ESC fans… Read more »
I give you that, Rotterdam may also be an amazing choice, but I think, it’s too obvious. Why not have a more surprising choice? I was so proud that “my” contest 2011 was not in Berlin, Hamburg or Munich, but in Düsseldorf! 🙂 Surprise us, The Netherlands! (I personally wanted ‘s-Hertogenbosch ^^)
Yes Düsseldorf was a great surprise, in fact that they offered a venue with space.
Again, Rotterdam for the heart and brains.
Actually just the brains, Maastricht offers enthusiasm with the heart. And Rotterdam Facility & infrastructure by the brains.
Maastricht would be interesting for hosting Eurovision 1993, but for 2020.. Sry it’s a little too late.
Like grandpa hosting a teenage party
Maastricht is looking like Malmo 2013 but the only difference is that Malmo had a proper venue with 28 meters in height
This is my theory, EBU chose Maastricht and planned to announce it in Mid august, like 10-20 of August.
But due to everyone wanting Rotterdam to host they changed it and has to replan the announcement material.
A bad theory. The host broadcaster is the one who makes the decisions, with the EBU just rubber-stamping it as a formality usually.
With today being the deadline for providing the additional information, three weeks is a pretty reasonable time to decide the venue and all that comes with it. We don’t know everything (maybe Maastricht somehow found a way to make the roof higher, maybe Rotterdam has some unknown disadvantage) and August 30 is an average date for host city reveal. Haste makes waste, but still, I believe that Rotterdam has got the victory in the bag.
well they can’t can’t change the roof height within 9 months
Azerbaijan built a new venue within 8 and a half.
All I’m saying is that the choice might not be as obvious as it seems to be. We waited 3 months, we can wait 3 weeks more.
Skiwalko
nos, avrotros, npo:
– oh well we had this amazing arena ahoy in Rotterdam with height and seats but we chose to renovate a congress centre for millions of euros just for fun in the most remote city in the The Netherlands.
I’m sure they have more IQ 🙂
Of course it’d be stupid, but with Maastricht’s money and will to host and EBU’s supposed bias it doesn’t seem impossible, with worries me a little.
With what money? When a small municipality can secure 25 mil. as a budget, I want to know where did that come from of whether they’re secured until now. It still sounds like a rubbish folktale by the stakeholders.
Azerbaijan doesn’t have the same strict rules the Netherlands has when it comes to building and renovating. In the Netherlands, you need to get a permit for everything and that can take months.
Also, The Netherlands probably doesn’t have a regime forcing people out of their homes, so there’s that difference, too.
Just another three more weeks to go…
Yaaaaaaaaaaay…
They really have no clue how to bridge the summer news gap. I stopped checking eurovision.tv a long time ago. It’s just too pointless. Like the pointless websites of pointless political parties. There’s never any real talk.
Also the comment section is like ten times more toxic than the one on wiwibloggs and that says a lot.
Hmm, I’m a bit disappointed tbh. I hope and I’m sure that the Dutch broadcaster will offer a great show, but honestly this selection process just took too long. I mean in 2017 and 2019 it was due to specific reasons, but I don’t really understand what took them so long to decide.
I guess the EBU really wants to choose Maastricht, but everyone else wants Rotterdam, so they’re kind of afraid about the outcome.
They can still discuss it, and change it to Rotterdam!!
I guess directly choosing Rotterdam would be a bad PR move towards a city as enthusiastic as Maastricht. Don’t want a country to celebrate Eurovision with Limburgers spamming negative Euro-news across their media.
Why is this taking so long? Maastrict hasn’t a venue…IT HAS TO BE ROTTERDAM
Even though it’s in my own country, I don’t have a huge preference. I visited Maastricht about two weeks ago, and I really loved it. But I’m not quite sure about MECC. I think Ahoy is perfect for an event such as ESC. I don’t know a lot about Rotterdam as a city though.
Maastricht would be a standout choice, very different from recent host cities and the venue and hotel rooms seem to be on point. A very significant spot for Europe in the heart of the continent and they have the commitment of doing it great. Come closer… and cheaper!
Maastricht won’t be cheap, it doesn’t have a large hotel capacity.
Maastrict DOSENT even have a proper venu
Pointless argument! Train ticket from Brussels Airport to Maastricht is 17 euro (much cheaper and quicker than from schiphol)
17 euros? That’s a non-existing price, unless you’re old and get a special reduction. The majority of the visitors are under 60. So, 17 euros is a myth
We’re not going to find out until three weeks later?! What more does need to be done to make a hosting decision?
What more do you need to show some patience? My god, it’s only summer 2019. Cool down.
What happened to the announcement would be in mid August? ?
I was asking myself the same question
I take it that you smell a rat, yes? I do.
If they delay the announcement into September, then we know for sure there are one or more rats out there,