According to press agency Interfax, the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest will indeed take place at the sports palace of Kiev, also known as Palats Sportu.
The Palats Sportu needs heavy renovation, but size, location and costs likely made the European Broadcasting Union enthousiastic. Likely, because no official confirmation from the EBU or host broadcaster NTU reached esctoday.com.
The 2005 Eurovision Song Contest will be the sixth consecutive edition that takes place in a sports venue. The Globen Arena (2000), the Parken Stadium (2001), the Saku Suurhall (2002), the Skonto Hall (2003) and the Abdi Ípekçi Spor Salun (2004) are all major sports and concert venues, while the 1999 venue was a conference hall.
The Palats Sportu is easy to reach by underground. The Syretsko-Pecherska underground (also known as the green line) stops right next to the venue.
