Almost 4 months since Måns Zelmerlöw’s Eurovision victory and preparations for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest are well underway in the host city of Stockholm, with a portion of the costs already being budgeted towards the European event according to reports.

Following the revelation of the choice of host city and venue back in July, around a total of 60 million SEK (€6.3m) has already been put towards the costs of the grand event taking place next May according to a report by Dagens Nyheter.

Among the preliminary costs so far, around a total of 50 million SEK (€5.3m) will reportedly go towards the renovations of the Globen Arena, the host venue which will be in use for a total of six weeks for the Eurovision Song Contest, running from the 4 April to the 14 May. Among the list of renovations being made to the arena include the installation of public WiFi, an update of the interior design and a freshen-up of the arena itself. The same report also reveals that a budget of 10 million SEK (€1m) has been put towards the initial preparations for this year in the lead up to the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.

The last time Sweden hosted the Eurovision Song Contest was in 2013 with the total costs of the event in the city of Malmö coming to around 125 million SEK (€13.3m). However according to the 2016 Contest Producer Christer Björkman, next year’s Stockholm event does not have to be as expensive.

The 2016 Eurovision Song Contest will take place in the host city of Stockholm on the 10, 12 and 14 May at the Globen Arena. So far, a total of 18 countries have confirmed their intent to compete at next year’s competition to ESCToday.

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for the latest news on the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest