Could the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 have ended up in Finland instead of Sweden were it not for Malmö? The answer is yes according to a new report from Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
Torbjörn Ek, the newspaper’s in-house Eurovision and Melodifestivalen expert, writes that the other cities that bid to host — that’s Stockholm, Gothenburg and Örnsköldsvik — were each ruled out because they fell short of one or more of the major criteria. Only Malmö — host city of Eurovision 2013 — had the total package in place. Had the state broadcaster SVT not gone with Malmö, then it may have had to hand the contest over to Eurovision 2023 runners-up Finland.
Let’s take the cities in turn.
Gothenburg
Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg was a big favourite among Eurovision fans. It definitely has the tourist infrastructure, including airports and hotels. In fact, it frequently crops up in glossy travel magazines around the world. Among other publications, Condé Nast Traveler has praised its “ethical fashion shops” and “zero-waste restaurants,” and even dubbed it the world’s most sustainable city.
It’s also a regular stop on the SVT Melodifestivalen tour. But that doesn’t make up for one very big problem. As Aftonbladet explains, its Scandinvaium Arena is 50 years old, resembles a “small lump of concrete,” and its roof would need to be reinforced to cope with the ever-heavier demands of the Eurovision light rig.
Örnsköldsvik
Örnsköldsvik is a gorgeous coastal town with popular beaches and campsites….and one of the longest water slides in Europe (at the indoor water park Paradisbadet). And while the sea air and trip down the slide would be refreshing, the town on the Gulf of Bothnia just isn’t very accessible for tens of thousands of foreign tourists.
As Aftonbladet explains, “there are two flights a day to Örnsköldsvik” and they have just “50 seats on each flight.” The train from Malmö takes a whopping 10 hours and 40 minutes! And then there’s the ever-thorny issue of hotels and accommodation. There simply aren’t enough rooms…and not even a creative cruise ship hotel in the harbour is going to change that.
Stockholm
By now you all know that Taylor Swift has a gig booked in Stockholm’s famed Friends Arena on 17th May. Given that SVT needs the arena to be clear for four to six weeks before the contest and one to two weeks afterwards, there’s no way they could hold it there.
The city had floated the idea of a temporary arena near the SVT headquarters that would demonstrate a “sustainable” pop-up venue. But given the cost of living crisis — and Copenhagen’s experience losing money when it built its own temporary venue in 2014 — SVT had to look elsewhere.
As Aftonbladet put it: “The question marks surrounding an arena that doesn’t even exist, with all the known and unknown uncertainties it entails, simply became far too uncomfortable.”
Here’s a question. if a chosen Eurovision venue has to cancel numerous other events to clear the calendar for the Eurovision period (6 weeks plus), Do they get any compensation? and who pays for that? Despite having months notice I imagine a lot of unpicking and rearranging for those other events, and when costs are involved no one is going to just roll over for Eurovision and lose money. How far could SVT/EBU for example just kick other events out? do they pay them off?
How much of this kind of thing influences the final chosen arena?
I have to admit, they’re working much faster than other hosts
With Sweden having much of a say at ESC you’d expect them to be able to host in the country’s best venues, but they can’t even do that
I’m not thrilled about next year, Swedish fans have been really toxic recently. Expecially on Twitter..
Another Swedish eurovision………… yawwwwwn.
Head of Contest for EBU (2021, 2022 & 2023 contests) Twan van de Nieuwenhuijzen moves to become HoD for Netherlands, and becomes a chairman for the Dutch selection committee.
Apparently Sweden wants to put a Swedish person in charge of the running order (Twan doing it previously) for upcoming years, no surprises here as this isn’t the only change they have wanted to do.
Melodifestivalen: Europe Edition
How much does it cost to hire the privately owned arena? Any guesses – a million euros?
Much more
Maybe it would be nice, if the EBU would support a network of public viewings in each participating /and non-participating) country, so that the Eurovision venues itself do not have to be thaaaat big. Also, these vast stages of recent years are simply drowning artists, in my opinion. Just look at the beautiful small stages and their atmospheric light shows like in Dublin 1981 or Tallinn 2002… Having thousands of fans travelling somewhere is just not sustainable… Just think of all the planes being taken… and it costs a whloe lot of money for each fan. Wouldn’t it be lovely… Read more »
I totally agree
Yes, 100% agree, this is why I get less enthusiastic about transnational competitions of football and other big events where people fly a lot. We are killing our planet, we need a mind shift and start to aft responsibly.
we;re not in 1981 or even 2002 when the contest did not have a good reputation. ESC is very mainstream nowadays and everyone wants to attend the show.
If gothenburg was rejected purely because the venue is no longer suitable,that probably will raise calls locally for a new entertainment venue.
However I dont know how busy the scandinavium generally is and if there is a market for an upgraded venue,eurovision aside.
perhaps some of our swedish fans could enlighten us on that.
Melodifestivalen is held there every year so obviously it is busy and used.
Problem was with the roof. It was not suitable for the lightning equipment EBU demands. But Göteborg bid also said they found an alternative solution for it
Mel fest semi finals once a year doesnt make a venue “busy”
A successful venue is busy throughout the year,that was the context of my post,how busy is it throughout the year,that would justify building a new venue,with the capability to stage eurovision,if indeed the venue is the reason gothenburg lost out on this occasion
The roof was the specific reason the arena was not ” allowed ” for ESC . But it is still used for concerts, mostly by Swedish stars.
No international artists tour Gothenburg.
They do but not Scadinavium. That is mostly for Swedish artists
From the TV viewers point of view anyway,the eurovision could be coming from anywhere its just a stage with lights and sound,from liverpool to tel aviv there is little to tell the location apart it all looks and sounds the same,for the millions watching
of course for anyone visiting the location physically and to be in the audience etc pay for hotels etc location may be everything
I feel a bit dissapointed, but I’m happy for Denmark. Most of the revenues will flow there, and SVT was very open on telling how other cities than Stockholm were not their first choice – for a third time.
But why should Stockholm be the first choice?
Off Topic- Any thoughts in the new Sanremo ruling? The demoscopic survey is going to be exchanged by a secondary jury composed by radio stations. I don’t know yet what to do it with, to be honest. It might be a trial to see how more mainstream music would do and look at Sanremo, me thinks, but not sure until I see the line-up and how this Radio Jury works out
Sweden has won in the 70s, 80s, 90s (twice), 2010s (twice) and 2020s and they aren’t even prepared? It’s a wealthy country with 10+ million people, but lacks in so many ways and this host city selection shows the worst. Messy year to come..
Regardless in which city it is and how much you like it, the fact they simply went with a city where they knew hosting it would be fine, is a fine choice in and of itself, no? Wouldn’t want a scenario where it somehow ends up going wrong. I have faith that Malmö will be a fine host to the 2024 contest, and I hope that we’ll see Petra host again as well. I loved her both in 2013 and 2016
Enough of Petra, already!!! I am sure that there are plenty of other good presenters.
Maybe a hologram of Katie Boyle
why the Globe in Stockholm is not an option?
Renovation
thanks! what about Tele2?
I really hoped for Tele2
Football stadium, can’t be released for the 6-8 weeks required
Not the first time Malmö has hosted and hopefully not the last! Sweden puts on a great show every time. Hoping for Petra Mede as host of course!
While I did like “Love, Love, Peace, Peace”, I hope Sweden will show off other talents. I really don’t get the obsession with comparing the hosts to Petra and Mans each year. They were great, indeed, but there are more than those two who are capable of delivering the contest in a professional manner. Am I wrong? Is Sweden lacking talented hosts? I hope SVT won’t get into your tricks.
You are absolutely right….!
I call BS on that newspaper report. There’s no way SVT would have given up hosting next year. They’d have made something work with one of the other cities
Does anyone know how many and which eurovision countries do not have a venue that fits the present requirement?
Beside micro states, Albania, Moldova and Montenegro also do not have any sutiable arena. I am not sure about Cyprus. North Macedonia has one with 7k to 8k capacity, but it’s a relatively new arena that could probably work for eurovision.
I wonder what would happen if a country wins that doesn’t have suitable venues for hosting eurovision. I guess the hosting duties will have to go to somebody else. it happened before when Monaco won the contest in 1971, but the UK ended up posting the next year, because Monaco didn’t have any suitable venue to host.
we have the juries to make sure that won’t happen 😉
Just let me in 2022!
Just like in 2022!
They could host it on stadium by perhaps building retractable roof or something
Does Iceland have a suitable arena? That’s the most likely non-winning Eurovision country I can possibly see winning.
Yes Iceland have a suitable venue
Many countries do not have the suitable infrastructure to host. Runner-ups are there to host instead!
Wait a second, Scandinvaium Arena in Gothenburg…half-a-century old? 😮 I’m only 23.
It hosted the contest in 1985
So???…
I really doubt SVT said ” we will hand it over to Finland “. Sounds like usual dramatic stuff from Aftonbladet.
SVT would have found a way
The author was being sarcastic with that comment ?. Of course they would not let Finland host! SVT would force Tele2 to change their name temporarily and host it there in a worse case scenario
The Tele2 name was not the problem/. M&S Arena was changed to BBC Arena in Liverpool
They never officially said why Tele2 Arena was not an option for Stockholm. Was it because of the football club?
Besides ESC, is Gothenburg’s arena creaky and outdated anyway? Do they want to build a new one soon?
Yep. It was scheduled for Demolition, so it’s obviously being rebuilt…hopefully.
Just give Gothenberg an upgrade to it’s stadiums and it would have been ready. 10 hours to Örnsköldsvik? No, something ain’t right there chief!
It is Clear that Swedish Broadcasting dont Truely care about the ESC only about their Image . In sweden next year will have Melodifest get more Viewerships than eurovision from Swedish people. They just Have no passion in ESC . I did not like the Finland song But at least they Would Actually Be Happy To Host this ESC and not favor American Swift instead …
So glad Loreen won. Her song is the real hit unlike Cha Cha Cha which flopped in charts outside Finland, Estonia and Sweden.
What about the Tele2 Arena? Everyone seems to not mention that one!
Djurgården and Hammarby both play the home matches in Tele2 Arena and they refuse to play some where Else for those weeks. The article in Aftonbladet actually also mentions that as a major obstacle. Dont know why it is not mentioned by wiwibloggs. That was also there fire it wasnt held in Tele2 Arena in 2016. Then SVT had Globen available though
I wonder why they did not push back and find alternative venues for the football matches like Dusseldorf did (Germany had more venues available, yet they chose Dusseldforf).
I don’t get why Stockholm chose to propose a temp arena which was clearly a bad idea instead of putting pressure for Tele2 Arena.
SVT would love to hold it there. But, there is no way they could carve out the proper block of time to get everything ready, run the shows and clean up after its done.
I don’t get this, please explain further
You need the arena for a minimum of 4 weeks. It takes time to build a stage and set up all the cameras, minimum one week, probably a week and a half. Then you need a few days of “stand in” rehearsals to give the delegations a feel for how it will be presented. Next the week of actual rehearsals, followed by a week of the shows. Finally a couple days to take it all down. Tele2 Arena is home to two football teams which play in the top tier Swedish pro league. Doubtful they would agree to play a… Read more »
Stockholm didn’t even take and approach this seriously, Malmo deserved.
Malmo did not take it seriously. They just applied because they had an available arena. Nothing wow in their bid.
Stockholm has been preparing since Loreen won Melodifestivalen so I am surprised all they could come up with was a temporary arena.
If all they could come up with was a temporary arena it means they did not take it seriously.
Partially agree but i think they realised the Tele2 Arena was not going to give up the football matches so they were left with the temporary arena idea.
favouritism more like within SVT for their precious Malmo, hopefully another pandemic is gonna happen and the contest being cancelled, one can only hope
In that case it will be Malmo 2025 🙂
Taylor Swift added more shows to her tour, so she’ll perform on the 17th, 18th and 19th of May.
So what. Tele2 Arena was available. Also, they could have hosted Eurovision in the first week of May weeks before Taylor’s shows.
ESC 2024 dates are the first week of May though
Tele2 Arena isnt available, as 2 football clubs play there, and they wont move out for that period of time. The same reason why Globen had Eurovision in 2016. Eurovision will never be held in Tele2 Arena
Tbh I would like ESC to take place in mere end of May one year, the temperatures increase a lot compared to first half and it’s much more summer feel.
As she will be in town she may as well represent San Marino (and be a shock NQ with 0 points)
They probably no longer care having equalled Ireland’s record 7 victories, on 2 of those occasions with the same song!
Tattoo is dropping fast in Swedish charts and does not have a certification yet
Cha Cha Cha was number 1 when Eurovision hit, NOT Tattoo. That shows it all.
Get over it b***h
But Loreen has more chart success in Europe unlike Cha Cha Cha.
Tattoo is now growing on me and I have even treated myself to the CD lol. I wonder if it would have hàd the same impact if representing say Malta though and performed by the wonderful Brooke Borg.
yup Tattoo is a euphoria clone, Loreen little miss one hit wonder, what an embarrassment for the contest her winning with almost the same song twice lmao
And not even ‘her’ song since it also now plagerises MANY other songs!
Maybe they will go for the hat trick! No shade to Loreen. I prefer Euphoric Tattoo to Take Me To Your Waterloo.
Ireland stole the victories in the 90s with corrupted juries sending the same old ass ballads.
yeah right, richest country in the world whom only have 1 possible host city
lmao
Sweden is always number 1 in odds every year, gets top-5 placements without failing to qualify and now they’re saying they lack a venue? Embarrassing!
Give it to Iceland to make up for the 1999 robbery. Or Macedonia for the 2008.
Sweden was only 1st in the odds up to the grand final 3 times, 2012, 2015 and 2023 (The years they won). Please, enough with the hyperbole.
That is not at all correct. Sweden hasn’t been number 1 in the odds for long time, before this year and was not always in top 5. In 2021 it got 14 and in 2018 7th
in 2010 they had failed to qualify
In the upcoming years to come by, I think Finland might be more than well prepared for Eurovision, if a win does come at some point, there’s couple indoor arenas already, but some newer ones are to be build in the upcoming years if plans go ahead: Current indoor arenas suitable for Eurovision (capacity for concerts): Helsinki – Helsinki Halli (15,5k) Tampere – Nokia Arena (15,5k) Turku – Gatorade Center (12-13k) Proposed indoor venues (capacity): Helsinki: Garden Helsinki (19k) Turku: Ratapiha Arena (15-17k) Vantaa: Arena 3.3 (32k) Oulu: Oulu Arena (15-16k) Each city having airport near by, all are over… Read more »
Helsinki Arena is co-owned by a Russian or Russians so it’s not available.
Either Turku or Tampere had suitable venues.
As a Eurovision fan, following the contest since 2005 I can say that I have never been more disappointed in the contest. This year the fans had a clear favourite, that was taken away from them. When Sweden won we at least had a light that we’re getting a bug production. Literally nobody wanted this scenario. Out of another 40 countries and places we’re getting to mediocre Malmo again?! At this point Friends is definitely never hosting the contest and it is out of hopes. If Sweden wins in the next 10 years they will do it in Scandinavium or… Read more »
So they would rather have Finland host instead of doing in at Tele2 because SVT rules doesn’t allow to host events in venues with commercial names…. *insert facepalm emoji*
they can always change the name of the venue temporarily like they did in M&S Arena in Liverpool.
They literally didn’t want to do it there and make it look as if it’s not available while in fact it is ?
Yes
Because Stockholm did not pick that arena for its bid.
Do we know why Stockholm did not pick Tele2 Arena? Everyone is talking about the Friends Arena but what about Tele2 Arena
For some reason it was never an option by Stockholm.
Because 2 football teams play in Tele2 Arena, and they refuse to move away for 6 weeks. The article in Aftonbladet actually mentions it. So thats why. Also for that reason Globen hosted Eurovision in 2016 instead of Tele2 Arena
That’s what I heard as well. However in 2016 Stockholm didn’t consider Friends Arena at all, I don’t know why. Looks like that arena also has some clubs playing there and they have those scheduling problems. It’s not just about Taylor Swift and her concert. If that’s the case, if Sweden win again they will host in renovated Globen again or in newly built Scandinavium (they plan to demolish it). It’s hilarious that they have lots of arenas but only one available in the country has decent capacity
Imagine if Malmo arena was under reconstruction like the Globe arena in Stockholm,,, then Finland would have had to be the host country. The irony lol Even though Finland has a problem in Helsinki with their main arena! Why do we keep focusing on Friends Arena in Stockholm though? There is Tele2 Arena which nobody talks about. Yes, Swift has concerts in Friends Arena after the 17th of May but if ESC had taken place the first week of May, I guess it would’ve been fine? The problem wasn’t Taylor but the football clubs using the stadiums and ESC would… Read more »
No excitement from the city? How you kmow that?
I don’t know as it hasn’t happened yet. It’s my guess/opinion because the bid was won by Malmo not because it was the strongest and had the best ideas but because Sweden had no other feasible options.
Liverpool was the outsider in the bid race for ESC23 but they won because their bid was the strongest.
There was a news clip last night and they all seem excited. I mean its to far away to be excited yet but never doubt a country’s ESC excitement
who seemed to be excited? the mayor of Malmo? Because Copenhagen must be happier as they won’t pay a dime for hosting Eurovision and get all the tax revenue and spending from tourists
Liverpool was super mid, Malmo is gonna be better
nope, this is gonna be one of the worst contests ever, with loads of plastic generic english songs because otherwise the racists cannot understand it if it ain’t in english
I don’t endorse your comments but some of the songs in “English” are barely understandable. That’s why I was so pleased that the likes of Albania and Slovenia qualified.
the likes of Georgia, Greece make a mockery of that stupid english language, i’m proud of those countries their entries
if only the UK could sink away in the ocean
Please get help
Super mid? You have no clue of what you are talking? Liverpool did the best ever Eurovision hosting ever… It was my 7th Eurovision since 2010 attending and Liverpool was absolutely amazing in every way!
Not true at all. Liverpool rocked it in terms of Eurovision atmosphere. I went there so I know better.