It’s been three weeks since Eurovision 2020 was cancelled due to the outbreak of coronavirus across much of the world. Now, Rotterdam’s mayor and aldermen have announced that the cost of the cancellation of Eurovision 2020 is not covered by the insurance that the Dutch city had in place.
While Rotterdam is still keen to host the contest again next year, this has major financial and organisational consequences for the city. Hosting the contest in 2021 will cost the municipality of Rotterdam an extra 6.7 million euros.
No insurance for the cancellation of Eurovision 2020
The damage incurred by the municipality of Rotterdam through the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest is not covered by the insurance the city had in place. This also applies to the insurance policies of Ahoy Arena and the production of Eurovision Village. The mayor and aldermen announced this to the Rotterdam city council on Wednesday.
Should Rotterdam host the contest in 2021, this will cost the municipality 6.7 million euros. That amount is in addition to the 15 million euros that the city of Rotterdam has already spent on the organisation of the 2020 edition.
Will the city of Rotterdam cover the costs incurred?
The Rotterdam college has asked the Rotterdam city council to provide this additional 6.7 million euros. The money will go towards the rental and security of host venue Ahoy Arena, city dressing and setting up the Eurovision village. These costs cannot be recovered from the insurance.
During the upcoming council meeting that will take place on April 23, it will be decided whether the municipality of Rotterdam wants to make this amount of money available.
Who will host Eurovision 2021?
According to the city council, all organising broadcasters – NPO, NOS and AVROTROS – once again support Rotterdam as the choice of host city For Eurovision 2021.
Alderman Said Kasmi explains: “If Rotterdam is a host city of Eurovision 2021, the costs already incurred – we had entered the final phase of the preparations – would not have been in vain.”
For the time being, we will have to wait and see what decision is made by the Rotterdam city council on 23 April. Additionally, there must also be a green light from broadcaster NPO. They must provide a budget for the organisation of Eurovision 2021. If the city of Rotterdam and NPO agree on the budget, Eurovision will take place in Rotterdam in 2021.
Do you hope that Rotterdam will still organise Eurovision 2021? Let us know in the comment section down below!
Think they could do it. It’ just that if NPO/Rotterdam wants it, can we demand EBU to hustle? One-sided cancellation from the EBU Ref. Group already made BUNCH of a mess, so it should be their responsibility to search for cost-cutting/compensating decisions and helping. It’s not that the Dutch isn’t capable of hosting — that’s already a false statement if they’re even willing to book Chantal Janzen for their show. Plus, can NPO/Rotterdam just cut their budget and search for a new and innovative Dollar-Tree-ish solution for the show? Think that a budget of 26.25M is such a lush amount… Read more »
Poland 2021 would be a wonderful possibility. This could be a nice opportunity for a country that has never hosted ESC to do it!!!
But why would Poland host??? JESC is a completely different competition that has nothing to do with hosting ESC so Poland has no right to and it’s not even like they’ve recently done well with there non-qualifications.
If anyone deserves to if the Netherlands can’t then it should be Italy, Russia or Switzerland as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th places respectively
nobody cares for jesc so they might as well ask them to do esc instead, which they would consider
They’re gonna pay it trust me.
How do you know?
I think we should be prepared that ESC 2021 might not even be a thing, or at least not in the traditional way. We should be prepared that it might get cancelled again next year, there is possibility for it. And that is the risk, if we have another cancelled ESC it won’t be back ever. People will simply forget about it and that it ever existed. Let’s not forget that it already now majority of people don’t care about it. That is why EBU shot themselves in the foot by cancelling it. By having some sort of contest it… Read more »
Well hope is important to have. Wish I could share that but no, at the moment I don’t have a good felling about it:(
They’ll not cancel the next Eurovision, that’s too big of a risk to be taken after seeing the reaction of this year alone. Worst possible might be having the constest not in May, but in June, July or August.
Absolutely, Rotterdam in 2021!
Let’s go to Sweden every year – in the ned they make the best shows! Best wishes from Norway
I wouldn’t be surprised if Eurovision provisionally moved to Sweden next year (I say provisionally because we don’t even know if it will be safe enough to host Eurovision next year either), that’s if the Netherlands can’t commit to hosting it for another year.
Jan lagermand from EBU/DR told that Denmark and DR will be the replacement broadcaster/host. That’s even the same if one day Australia is winning the Eurovision.
I literally think Sweden will host next year if the Netherlands can’t commit to hosting it again, and why not? They host it far better than anyone else, have by far the strongest set of results in the last ten years and have tonnes of experience hosting Eurovision (in Sweden and in other countries too, looking directly at Ukraine but also Portugal, Israel, and Latvia) and cost-effectively too, Melodifestivalen is a mock Eurovision and surely Christer Björkman wants to host it again. Life in Sweden is also more normal than in much of Europe at the moment too. I think… Read more »
Even if we all love it when Sweden hosts, having that opportunity ripped from the Dutch after they laid such great groundwork for 2020 and when it was cancelled through no fault of their own would enrage many in the fandom. Ukraine and Israel were able to host in spite of security issues where their governments bore more liability for those issues. If ESC 2021 does happen the Dutch must be allowed to host.
To be honest, I want to see the Netherlands host Eurovision next year (especially after doing such a good job of organising it for this year) and think NPO should first find an alternative to Rotterdam if they can’t commit to another year of it (like moving it to Maastricht, Ziggo Dome, RAI or AFAS Live in Amsterdam, or Hilversum Studios 21 and 22 as outlined in a previous comment by me). If they can’t, then move it to Sweden (or Germany or The UK).
Shouldn’t instead just give it to Italy, Russia or Switzerland as they technically should be next in line ahead of Sweden. They all did better than them. If those 3 can’t host, then we move on Sweden and so on….
If NPO, NOS, and AVROTROS cannot host, according to the rules (EBU seens to respect very much its rules, with no exception) a BIG 5 country takes over, and the first is Germany.
Most likely ESC 2021 will be held in Rotterdam, I think. Btw we have to be very careful here in Stockholm, and life is definitely not normal, but it is very much our own responsibility to take care of each other.
I think the EBU seems to forget that ESC for most people is just a TV-show. That’s why I still can’t understand EBU just couldn’t organize a video-show with voting this year with the promise Netherlands would host the contest in 2021, if there will be any. I can see we in one year from now will have the same situation as today while still waiting for the vaccine. EBU has made a big mistake cancelling any kind of contest this year. I fear this is the beginning of the end for ESC. Without a contest in 2021 as well… Read more »
I fear this is the beginning of the end for Eurovision too. The fallout from COVID-19 is going to cause a massive economic downturn that’s going to batter the economies of Europe and Australia. The fragile and heavily indebted economies of Eastern and Southern Europe (INCLUDING Italy and Spain, *TWO BIG-FIVE COUNTRIES*) are going to be hit especially hard and as a result, the broadcasters in those countries may think; “do we *really* need Eurovision anymore?” That could make PERMANENT cancellation a VERY REAL possibility. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not scaremongering. The last thing I want for Eurovision is… Read more »
Because it’s not Eurovision without its live performances.
Re Deven’s idea: They could have done the same thing for ESC 2020 at a postponed date, but no, they want to cash in on the insurance premium and only care about the revenues they might get from being a live event. “It’s against Eurovision tradition” must be the lamest excuse I ever heard, in fact the ESC as we know today only took off in the last 20 odd years, before that it was purely a TV event with invite only audience (i.e. there was no way you could get tickets unless you have contacts or live in the… Read more »
How could Amsterdam be a good choice when they only wanted to spend a 5 mio budget?
Bye The Netherlands, they only think about money…
Oh yea how dare the Netherlands be careful with their money and not want to throw it all away. Countries who attempt to make a profit for the better of their cities make me sick
Yeah because other countries don’t haha!
In the end, this stays a commercial event. Cities want to make a profit from hosting, and giving out another 6.7 million is not that easy…
I think you meant Sweden
Look at this nice project
https://der.orf.at/unternehmen/aktuell/we_are_the_world100.html
Faroe Islands! Let’s go!
I’m pretty sure, there will be Rotterdam in 2021. The Netherlands won’t give up that easy, they’ve been waiting for this too long.
We don’t know whether there will be a Eurovision Song Contest in 2021 at all.
unfortunately yes..
Stop rubbing it in its not fair
I am very happy for you, I sincerely am, and I really hope that you and your family stay illness free throughout all this. But please have a bit more empathy for those people who have lost loved ones and know people who are extremely vulnerable to the disease. You may have no experience of the illness but this does not mean it does not exist.
Don´t be that stupid please.
You must live in Sweden probably ….thanks god my family moved from Sweden to Central Europe …nowadays i feel like Sweden has a motto – #Economyalwaysfirst
I guess you’re unaware of Sweden’s latest numbers on this crisis.
‘LOL’ you mean, you don´t want to face the truth. It seems you are in family with Trump.
You do have i crisis in Sweden, you just don’t see it. Sweden have about 800 deaths, Norway with about half the population of Sweden have about 100 deaths. The people dying are not laying in the streets but are in hospitals and in the retirementhomes. That’s why you think life just go on as usual since you probably are young and healthy.
Of course there will.
Don’t worry. Rotterdam will host next year for sure, actually when the situation gets better in the netherlands people will back to work, the tourism will return fast and the financial statement will be better so im sure that Rotterdam will be able to pay these 6.7 million (which is not that a lot after all), actually hosting eurovision is really important for them so they will not give up so fast. Hopefully the netherlands will beat the coronavirus soon and Rotterdam 2021 will take a part
Maybe Ireland should host it lol. I’d love that. I’ve already come up with a theme, logo and stage haha
I’d love to see another Eurovision held in Ireland but hmmmm I wouldn’t think so. If Rotterdam can’t do it next year, and no other city in the Netherlands can do it either, it will probably be one of the Big 5 who host, probably Germany or United Kingdom.
I wouldn’t mind donating like 10 EUR to the organisation. If like 300.000 people would do the same, they can try to find some extra sponsors and you’re done. I’m not saying 300.000 people donating is realistic, but who knows… Also, why not add some of the profits of the Eurovision Movie to help lessen the burden. That would be nice of Will Ferrell. Just some random ideas. 🙂
It would be impossible but if Netherlands and Rotterdam declines hosting
Bulgaria and Sofia could host. It sound stupid for now
bulgaria what
it was just a joke chill
May the contest will not happen neither next year as even if the coronavirus outbreak passes then the economy will be really suffering
That’s kind of what I am thinking too. Could Eurovision really suffer to the point of permanent cancellation (as horrible and as unthinkable as it is)?
Okay, don’t get crazy.
Of course Eurovision won’t be permanently cancelled. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, the 2010 contest was done at the height of the financial crash and Eurozone bailout. There was a scaled back and different tone to it, but it still happened and was still pretty good, although songwise it kind of was a bit the way 2020 was going before it got cancelled….it was clear some countries didn’t want to win just be there and get a respectable result. Eurovision 2021 will happen. We might get some withdrawals but it will definitely happen, provider covid-19 is a distant memory… Read more »
Before you say this think about Spain, Italy, France, UK, USA etc… all these people are NOT ALLOWED to “run every day” and “think positive about life”, “have a normal Easter” because we’re stuck in quarantine and losing loved ones. I am saying as a British person. Sweden can do whatever they want but there carefree attitude towards coronavirus obviously isn’t working with there 9,000 cases and 800 deaths. Also why would enjoy life just because YOUR loved ones are fine, that doesn’t matter to me, I don’t know them. So answer me this, how can I, as a person… Read more »
Simple solution: Why don’t they (or a credited fan group like this) start a GoFundMe where the fans who really want to help show their support and solidarity could pledge just €1 each. Surely if they have an audience of 200 million, a small yet fair portion of that must be diehard fans. Even if only 3% of those viewers contributed €1, that would be €6 million #openupyourwallets
Moscow 2021. UNO would have win anyway !
Oh, you’re back!
My favorite Wiwi troll
CONTROVERSIAL OPINION: If Rotterdam can’t host it, why not move it to Hilversum TV studios 21 and 22? Eurovision is going to have to scale down as a result of COVID-19 and the negative economic impact that will inevitably follow anyway, so it may make sense to move it to Hilversum. It has all of the necessary technology and equipment to host a big TV show and if anyone has ever seen the live shows of The Voice of Holland or Holland’s Got Talent you’ll notice that it looks absolutely massive, even though it can only house 1,000 at most.… Read more »
“It won’t go well with the fans” – that’s why they will never do it. The EBU doesn’t want that the eurovision will lose fans and rating. I am sure that the coronavirus statement in the netherlands will get better in the following months and than the financial statement will get better fast (the netherlands is really far from italy spain and the usa so if there is going to be a financial crisis due to the coronavirus it won’t be long) and also Rotterdam really wants to host the eurovision event so they won’t give up so fast and… Read more »
Fans make up such a small percentage of viewers that I don’t think the EBU will be taking us into consideration that much
Still, don’t forget that eurovision is an event in the whole europe and it brings a lot of tourists from the world, in the 21st century studios don’t match these international events (studios are mostly for national events), it will be a big disappointment for the netherlands a result like that after waiting more than 40 years and putting more than 15 million euros for it. Don’t forget Jon’s words – “eurovision will be back stronger than ever”, in 2021 if COVID-19 ends eurovision will be more important than ever to unite europe (and hopefully it will end soon)
Everything that could possibly be done should be done so that Rotterdam can host in 2021. The EBU should even pay something or offer a discount or something.
The Netherlands and the city of Rotterdam needs and deserves this moment. No other country should step in offering to host unless it is to help out AVROTROS host in Rotterdam.
I will be devastated if my country won’t host the contest next year!
With all the energy put into organising this event, it would be a waste not to try, even with a smaller budget. Surely, the municipality could find some way of getting the money. What about croudfunding?
Aren’t there sponsors in these? Can’t they cover the expenses? If not Rotterdam, are other Dutch cities prepared to take over? Surely there must be a back up plan somewhere.
I mean it’s highly unlikely that the dutch broadcaster had a global pandemic cancellation plan ready for euro 2020. The ebu maybe but not the broadcaster who just would host this years edition.
I mean for next year. If Rotterdam won’t host, are there other plans in store? Other cities?
If Lisbon could pull of a quality show in 2018 with minimal cost, then there is no reason that Rotterdam cannot do that in 2021
Definitions of “quality” certainly vary….
2018 staging was quite dull tbh
Thats an average Hollywood movie budget. Not that much really, some big budget movies cost 80 million plus. Perhaps Netflix could provide bit budget as it now includes it as part of its online viewing experiences.
Hope Rotterdam can still host in 2021. I feel the broadcaster can still pull off a quality production with a lower budget.
off-post question: won’t there be ogae stuff this year?
I don’t think so.
Owh for goodness sake. What use is insurance if it doesn’t cover global emergencies?
That’s why I’m always weary having to pay my dues to insurance companies. I can see the benefits of it but at the same time, the language their agents use when speaking to clients regarding coverage is never always clear unless you get a hold of their contract.
Insurance does not cover acts of God or Winnie the Poo
Who owns the Ahoy Arena? It seems a bit unfair to have to pay for it twice – if the owners can afford it, they should cover the payments. Otherwise, perhaps it is time to think about a scaled-down show – I expect that times will be tough economically-speaking once Coronavirus is under control with many people struggling, so perhaps a less lavish show is what we should look for in 2021?
Yes, but if the owners are billionaires, then surely they can do something for the greater good and waive passing these costs on?