THE BBC has said they “may consult” with the UK Government over which British city gets to host next year’s Eurovision.
Though the corporation insisted that the final decision would be theirs and event organisers, the European Broadcasting Union, it means Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries could play a role in determining the winner.
A number of cities have so far expressed an interest in hosting the European pop jamboree, including Glasgow and Aberdeen.
Yesterday, Cardiff pulled out of the process with officials saying it would have forced them to cancel other planned events.
In a new round of Frequently Asked Questions posted on their website today, the BBC said they would likely announce a winner by the Autumn and revealed that there would be two stages in the search for a host.
The first round will see the applicants whittled down to a shortlist “based on their ability to meet the requirements and their responses [to questions on the application form] around capability and experience.”
The “final decision” will then be “based on a city or region’s capacity and capability in meeting the BBC’s and the EBU’s requirements, as well as availability of resources and general experience in hosting a large and complex event such as the Eurovision Song Contest.”
The corporation said they “may consult with the UK government but the decision on who will be the Host City will be determined by the BBC and the EBU.”
They also said there was “no charge to enter a bid” but that it was up to “cities whether they incur costs to support their bid.”
Details of what the requirements might be have not yet been made public.
Last year the EBU criteria were for a city with a venue big enough to accommodate at least 10,000 spectators that was within easy reach of an international airport and had ample hotel accommodation.
London, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds have all expressed an interest in holding the contest.
Glasgow had been the bookies’ favourite, with Betfair offering odds of 5/6 on the spectacular coming to the Clyde.
However, they have been knocked off the top spot by Commonwealth Games host Birmingham.
Betfair is now offering odds of 6/4 on the contest going to the West Midlands. Glasgow is just behind on 2/1, while Aberdeen sits on 18/1.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel