The deadline for Swiss cities to submit their bid books to SRG-SSR and the EBU is fast approaching, the potential candidate cities are polishing their bids and putting their final touches. Are we heading to Zurich for Eurovision 2025, is the city the hot favourite to belt the coveted role to host the event next year?

The potential candidate cities have until Friday 28 to submit their respective ESC 2025 bid books to the Swiss national broadcaster. Hereafter a team consisting of SRG-SSR  and EBU officials will visit the candidate cities and inspect the venues, infrastructure, side event venues, social programs and proposals. The 2025 Eurovision Host City will be determined by late August.

Switzerland’s three largest cities: Zurich, Geneva and Basel are working round the clock in order to polish their respective bids, with Zurich standing out as the hot favourite to win the hosting bid. Whilst Bern and Biel are working on submitting a joint bid.

Let’s have a look which cities have realisticly the best chances to win the hosting bid:

Zurich

Zurich is currently leading SRF’s online poll with 48% of the readers’ vote, followed by Basel in second place with 23 % ( data at the time of writing). The City of Zurich has everything it needs to host this mega event: the largest venues (Hallenstadion -15,000 spectators and Swiss Life Arena-12,000 spectatord), an excellent transport system, an international airport with flight connections to most European and international destinations. Zurich is also backed by the communications agency Furrerhugi and has one of Switzerland’s largest hotel capacity. Zurich’s nightlife, bars, restaurants and LBTQ+ community round off the city’s glamorous package.

Hence Zurich has all the infrastructure and logistics to host the event, SRF’s Headquarters are also based in Zurich.

Basel

Basel could not an excellent option to host the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. The City of Basel has great experience in hosting trade fairs and events such as: Art Basel and Fasnacht. Communications agency Farner is backing Basel’s Eurovision bid. Basel’s proposed venue is the St.JakobsHallen which can accommodate circa 12,000 spectators. Basel has great experience in organizing pop up parties, the city’s airport is modest but doable. Fans and delegations can fly to Zurich and take a train to Basel. The city lies on the crossroads triangle connecting France, Germany and Switzerland.

Geneva

Geneva is another city which could easily win the bid to host the event, it is the home of the United Nations and the EBU. Geneva’s international flair, elegance and experience in hosting international events can be a plus point. The city is adequately located on the French border, which can enable Eurovision fans to find cheaper hotels and accomodation and travel by bus or train to Geneva. The proposed venue- the Palaexpo can accomodate circa 15,000 fans. SRF’s article mentions that the only drawback for Geneva could be its limited night-life programme which could be resolved by its neighbouring city Lausanne.

Bern & Biel

Bern and Biel are aiming to host the event together, both cities will be making a final decision on their bid today. Biel is Nemo’s hometown, whilst Bern is the capital of Switzerland. The proposed site has yet to be built and is expected to be completed by Spring 2025. Both the cities have a limited hotel capacity in comparison to the other potential candidate cities.

A total of four Swiss cities are expected to submit their bids to SRG-SSR by Friday 28 June:

• Geneva
• Basel
• Zurich
• Bern & Biel

Source: SRG-SSR/ SRF/ESCToday
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