Stockholm, Gothenburg or Malmö? The triumph has barely subsided after Saturday’s final in Baku when the preparations for the upcoming contest in Sweden have begun. Today the Swedish broadcaster SVT is having their first meeting about Eurovision Song Contest 2013 and the bidding has already started.

 

When it became evident that Sweden had won the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, the city of Gothenburg preliminary booked the Scandinavium Arena together with the Swedish exhibition halls in Gothenburg and 3,000 hotel rooms. In Malmö, the Malmö Arena was booked for the same reasons. Local medias in both Gothenburg and Malmö have stated that both cities are ready for what could be called a tug of war with Stockholm about getting the possibility to host next year’s contest.

There are several factors affecting the planning of the upcoming contest 14^th, 16^th and 18th of May 2013. As Stockholm could be seen as the natural host city choice, local media claim that the hosting of the World Championship in hockey 3rd-19^th of May 2013 might influence the choice of another Swedish city, something that the Swedish broadcaster SVT has confirmed.

On the other hand, could the possible arenas in Gothenburg and Malmö be considered as too small for an event like Eurovision Song Contest, as Scandinavium can take 14 000 spectators and Malmö Arena 15 400 spectators. The likely choice could therefore be the newly constructed Friends Arena in Solna/Stockholm with a capacity of 67 500 spectators.

Sweden has hosted Eurovision Song Contest 4 times before. 1975 at Älvsjömässan in Stockholm, 1985 at Scandinavium in Gothenburg, 1992 at the Isstadium in Malmö, and in 2000 at the Globe Arena in Stockholm.

Stay tuned for more information.

Source: Göteborgsposten, Sydsvenskan
Picture: SVT.se