Eurovision 2025: With “Arena Plus”, the hosts offer new possibilities to eurofans
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.
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Source: city of Basel
