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EBU: Heads of delegation meet in Croatia to discuss Eurovision 2025!

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The Heads of Delegation are meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia to discuss about the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.

During this week, Heads of Delegation will start shaping next year’s Eurovision to be held in Switzerland.  As the deadline for countries to announce if they are participating in Basel approaches, the HoD reviews the procedures and EBU governance.

The attending broadcasters will find out more about the EBU’s plans for the competition during this week’s meeting.  Last summer a report was released for the delegations on the incidents that took place during the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.  Therefore, the recommendations of this report could be one of the topics of interest for the HoD.

We are looking forward to see what innovations and suggestions this first meeting will bring to the competition.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 will be held in Basel, Switzerland on May 13, 15 and 17.

Source: Eurovoix.

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Eurovision 2025: The reasons behind Basel’s selection as the host city!

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A few days ago it was announced that Basel will host the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, since the selection process had come down to either Basel or Geneva. Behind this choice, there were some particular reasons which gave Basel the opportunity to be the host city.

Reto Peritz, the Co-Executive Producer for Eurovision 2025, in an interview with the swiss newspaper Blick, explained the three pillars the choice of Basel was based upon: the venue, the availability and the cities’ plans around the Contest.

Regarding the venue, Peritz mentioned that:

“With the Halle Saint-Jacques, Basel has a concert hall that has already proven itself. Geneva had a generous exhibition hall with plenty of space with Palexpo, but the entire infrastructure would have had to be installed there. Basel does have a smaller venue, but the “Arena Plus” concept and the integration of the St. Jacques stadium compensate for this.”

As for the stadium’s availability, Basel is able to make it available for a week longer, in comparison to Geneva.

Lastly, the creativity of the bids submitted by each city seem to have played their distinctive part. More specifically, Peritz noted:

“Not only are there plans for a fan zone, but the whole city of Basel is turning into a place dedicated to Eurovision as well.”

The organizers ultimately aim to create a Contest that will be supported by the Swiss population and they will be proud of, while they will also highlight their cultural diversity with its unique characteristics.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 is set to take place on the 13th, 15th and 17th of May in Basel, Switzerland.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the upcoming news!

Source: Blick

Eurovision 2025: With “Arena Plus”, the hosts offer new possibilities to eurofans

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Swiss organizers have revealed details of Arena Plus, which will offer new viewing options for fans of the competition who will be attending Basel and will not be able to secure a ticket for St. Jakobshalle, where the Eurovision 2025 live shows will take place.

The city of Basel is ready to use the stadium St. Jakob-Park, which has a capacity of 20,000 spectators. Called “Arena Plus”, the St. Jakob-Park will effectively function as a second arena for Eurovision 2025, where eurofans will be able to watch the shows live, as was the case at Eurovision 2016 in Stockholm. In Stockholm, the Tele 2 Arena hosted side events during the Grand Final, while the main events took place at the Globen Arena.

The St. Jakob-Park is the largest football stadium in Switzerland and can accommodate around 20,000 spectators. The stadium in question is located next to the Eurovision 2025 venue, St. Jakobshalle. Additionally, it is home to Basel’s local team, Basel FC.

The Swiss plan is similar to the one implemented in Stockholm in 2016. That is, those of the friends of the contest who will travel to Basel for Eurovision 2025 and will not be able to secure a ticket, will be able to watch the show in St. Jakob-Park and live a Eurovision experience as close as possible to what the spectators will experience inside the arena where the final will take place.

From the municipality of Basel they emphasize:

A strong argument in the application and in the assessment by the SRG was the idea of ​​setting up an “Arena Plus” in the adjacent St. Jakob-Park football stadium on the final day. On the one hand, this will create additional capacity in the show arena, given the limited number of seats for ESC standards, and on the other hand, the ESC in Switzerland can come up with an innovative concept.

The “Arena Plus” is intended to offer as many fans as possible the opportunity to experience the ESC up close. Regardless of the hall capacity, tickets for the main show in the hall are a rare, expensive commodity. Many fans from all over the world therefore travel without show tickets and want to be as close to the action as possible.

Many Basel residents will also not receive tickets for the shows and would like to be able to take part in “their” ESC. The “Arena Plus” is more than just a public viewing. 

The stadium is intended to have a festival atmosphere with family offerings and concerts by former ESC stars.

During the show, the “Arena Plus” will be integrated into the main show via mutual live connections.

The “Arena Plus” is organized under the responsibility of the host city. The costs, in the order of CHF 2.5 million, can probably be fully covered by ticket, catering and hospitality revenues. The “Arena Plus” should therefore be cost-neutral for the canton. FC Basel is supporting the project, and the stadium will be available for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 on time and in the required quality.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source: city of Basel