The city of Zurich is applying to host the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2025. The ESC offers the city of Zurich the opportunity to present itself as a cosmopolitan cultural city and an attractive travel destination. “Zurich and the ESC: They fit together perfectly. Zurich is just as colorful, just as lively, just as diverse. We can and want to handle this major project,” says Mayor Corine Mauch.

With Zurich Airport and Zurich Central Station, the city is easily accessible for international guests as well as visitors from all parts of Switzerland.

Hallenstadion with exhibition center, congress center and Landiwiese on the lake

Zurich has a lot of experience in planning and staging large events. With the Hallenstadion, the city of Zurich offers the right infrastructure for the ESC. As the largest event hall in Switzerland, the Hallenstadion has around 15,000 seats and, together with the Zurich Trade Fair directly next door, has enough space to meet the requirements of the SRG.

In addition to the live shows in the Hallenstadion, various concerts, public viewings and public events will take place in the “Eurovision Village”. The city of Zurich has a space for the “Eurovision Village” in the form of the Landiwiese, close to the city center and directly on the banks of Lake Zurich. The Zurich Congress Center is planned as the third official ESC location in the city of Zurich. The official events leading up to the ESC can take place in the Congress Center on the lake. The Congress Center, which has been extensively renovated in recent years, is also the location of the official “EuroClub”. The “EuroClub” will host the welcome event and ESC parties for both the country delegations and the general public.

As a contribution to the total costs of planning and implementing the ESC, the city council is requesting a framework loan of 20 million francs from the municipal council. The loan is subject to the condition that the SRG and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) award the contract to the city of Zurich.

The City of Zurich prepared the application in collaboration with Zurich Tourism, the private partners AG Hallenstadion, MCH Messe Schweiz AG and Kongresshaus Zürich AG.

High added value and long-term positive image effects

The ESC is a music competition that has been organized annually by the EBU since 1956. The ESC shows reach more than 180 million viewers every year. Fans from all over the world will attend the ESC and be guests in the host city. It can be assumed that the city of Zurich will benefit from positive image effects in the long term thanks to the ESC and that the local added value will be approximately twice the resources invested.

A total of four cities have applied to host the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland next year: Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern & Biel. The 2025 Eurovision host city will be unveiled by late August.

Source: Stadt Zurich
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