Eurovision is hot on the iron in Sweden ever since Måns Zelmerlöw won the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna last Saturday. Preparations for the forthcoming Eurovison Song Contest have kicked off in Sweden, with SVT already working on the 2016 Eurovision stage. But which city is gonna host the event? Goteborg? Stockholm? Malmö? Upssala? Örebro? or Linköping?

That is the big question. SVT is currently in talks with the various cities and venues, in 3 weeks from now all interested bidding cities and venues will have to submit their respective applications to the Swedish broadcaster, hereafter SVT will study and evaluate all bidding applications. The Swedish broadcaster is expected to make an announcement regarding the 2016 Eurovision host city by mid-July/ early August.

Hosting the Eurovision Song Contest is a great opportunity for the host city to showcase itself worldwide during the Eurovision weeks and is a great window to promote both the city and the region globally. Malmö hosted the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2013 and gained a lot from it. Hence this time the city is yet again interested in welcoming Europe and hosting Europe’s favourite television show.

Malmö to host ESC 2016?

Swedish news website 8til5 reports that Swedish broadcaster SVT will be holding talks with Malmö regarding the hosting of the forthcoming 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.  The news portal goes on to report that Martin Österdahl, the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest executive producer will have a similar role in the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest and will be among those responsible to designate the 2016 ESC host city. 8 til 5 got the chance to speak to Mr. Österdahl regarding the preparations for Eurovision 2016.

Photo credits : Åsa Sjöström

He will be sending out the data, information to all the interested parties/cities and venues in due course. Hence all interested cities will have around 3 weeks to come up with their respective proposals. The cities will have to present their proposals to SVT with indepth information ie. how they plan to host the Eurovision etc.

Martin says that the most important aspects required from the host city are a good venue, functional logistics, the the hotel capacity ensuring  the accomodation for those attending the event (fans, delegations, artists, press etc), proximity of the airport to the city,  good transport routes connecting the venue to the city/hotels, a good transport system etc. He wants the host city to be active and passionate about hosting the contest like was the case in 2013 when Malmö embraced the contest with open arms. Malmö is still a role model!

Martin wants to take the contest this time one notch higher than last time, both in terms of television production and attracting more people to Eurovision. He goes on to point out how he and the SVT team were pleased and satisfied with Malmö.

 Martin goes on to comment on the 2013 ESC in Malmö.

Regarding the 2013  ESC in Malmö we have received very good critics and accolades for the event. Together with the City of Malmö and Region of Skåne, we managed to create an ESC  which focused a lot on the idea behind Eurovision: people, human relations and bridging cultural differences. We also brought back a little warmth and humor in the ESC which I think had disappeared.

When asked if Malmö was a candidate for hosting Eurovision 2016, Martin responded;

Given how good the contest was in Malmö  in 2013, it is obvious that we are happy to hold  new discussions with the city of Malmö.

The preliminary dates for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest have been set on 10, 12 and 14 May.

Stay tuned to ESCToday for the latest news on the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest!