The city of Vienna is bidding to host the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest with only one venue- the Wiener Stadthalle. There are no other venues and options in the race for the city of Vienna. Hence only 3 venues are in the last leg of the grand race to host the forthcoming Eurovision in Austria: Wiener Stadthalle, Olympiaworld Innsbruck and the Stadthalle Graz.
After speculation and reports on several websites and media stating that Vienna’s Neu Marx at St. Marx was out of the race and that the Wiener Stadthalle did not meet all the requirements, ESCToday contacted ORF, the Austrian national broadcaster in order to clarify this issue.
The Austrian broadcaster ORF told ESCToday:
The city of Vienna has applied with the Wiener Stadthalle to host the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Neu Marx was among the initial options earlier, therefore it is not an issue for ORF and is no longer in the race.
The Neu Marx was just an initial option for the city of Vienna along with several other options in the initial phase of the bidding race, and is not in the final list of the shortlisted venues bidding to host the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Krieau, Heldenplatz and Schönbrunn Palace were also considered as inital optional locations to host the event in Vienna by the City of Vienna.
There are only 3 venues in the final phase of the bid: the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, the Olympiaworld in Innsbruck and the Stadthalle Graz in Graz.
We would like to assure our readers and Eurovision fans that all 3 bidding cities are very much in the race and are eligible to host the contest next year. It’s a very open competition and any of the 3 venues could win the bid. Vienna is very much in the race with the Wiener Stadthalle!
The countdown has started as ORF will be making a decision on the host city of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in the coming days, with an official announcement expected by late July/early August.
The Story so far
APA, the Austrian news agency reported in its press release that ORF was very pleased and satisfied after its negotiations with the 3 candidate cities and venues bidding to host the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. The general director of ORF Mr. Alexander Wrabetz told APA :
The meetings with all the 3 candidate cities in the past days have been very constructive. We are on schedule.
Last week a special committee from ORF held meetings with representatives of the 3 bidding cities who had the chance to showcase, promote and present their respective bids. All the submitted bids were very well structured and with a highly professional and dedicated offer to host a large scale event such as the Eurovision Song Contest. The Austrian broadcaster is currently studying and evaluating all the 3 bids in detail in order to make a transparent decision regarding the choice of the 2015 Eurovision host city and venue.
We are targeting to make our decision by the end of July- beginning of August. We must check all the bids and information provided in detail before making a decision. An announcement on the decision should be expected by early August– Mr Alexander Wrabetz added.
An announcement with the name of the host city and venue is expected in the coming weeks, by early August. The 2015 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 19, 21, 23 May in Austria.
