The decision is made today Will Basel or Geneva win the bid for the ESC?
Basel or Geneva: Today, Friday, it will be announced which of the two Swiss cities will host the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. According to SRG, the award will be communicated via the official channels at 10 am.
30.08.2024, 04:48
30.08.2024, 07:21
SDA
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- Today, Friday, it will be announced whether Basel or Geneva will host the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.
- According to SRG, the award will be communicated via the official channels at 10 am.
- If Basel wins the bid, the St. Jakobshalle will be the main venue.
- If, on the other hand, Geneva becomes the venue for the world's biggest singing competition, the Palexpo exhibition center next to the airport will be the venue.
If Basel wins the bid, the St. Jakobshalle will become the main venue for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), according to President of the Government Conradin Cramer (LPD). The government estimates the costs at CHF 30 to 35 million.
If Geneva becomes the venue for the world's biggest song contest, the Palexpo exhibition center right next to the airport would become the venue. According to City President Christina Kitsos (SP), the costs here are estimated at around CHF 30 million.
The future venue can count on a huge advertising effect. After all, 163 million people watched the three live TV shows from Malmö in Sweden last May - according to Swiss television, almost 800,000 watched in Switzerland alone.
Political opposition to the ESC
Jean-Marc Richard, who has been commentating on the Song Contest for French-speaking Swiss television station RTS for over 30 years, believes that Basel has a better chance of hosting the event. He told the Keystone-SDA news agency that interest in the ESC was greater in German-speaking Switzerland.
The response in French-speaking Switzerland has increased since Fribourg's Gjon's Tears came third in 2021. However, German-speaking Switzerland is closer to English and the entertainment formats of Eurovision.
According to the governments of both cities, the prospect of the ESC was met with jubilation by the majority, but resistance also emerged. For example, the Young People's Party of Geneva threatened a referendum if the city won the bid. "While many important areas need financial support, it is not justifiable to spend millions on such a controversial event," said the Young SVP.
Risk of referendums is included in the assessment
In July, the Federal Democratic Union (EDU) also announced a referendum against the various ESC loans of the candidate cities. The EDU called for these to be put to a popular vote.
The risk of referendums is included in the evaluation of the cities that have applied to host the ESC. "The outcome of a referendum would not necessarily mean that the city would not be able to provide the agreed services. For the time being, it only means that there will be a referendum," said Edi Estermann, Head of the SRG Media Office, when asked by Keystone-SDA.
If the loan is rejected in the referendum, the contract with the city stipulates what happens then. The ESC will definitely take place, he added.
First ESC in Switzerland for 36 years
Wherever the major event is held: It will be historic. Because with Nemo's victory ("The Code") at this year's ESC in Malmö, Sweden, the singing competition is returning to Switzerland for the first time in 36 years. Traditionally, the competition takes place in the country of the previous year's winning nation.
In 1988, Céline Dion won the contest for Switzerland in Dublin with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi", after which it was held at the Palais de Beaulieu in Lausanne the following year.
On May 24, 1956, the first "Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson" - as the contest was still called at the time - took place in the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano. Lys Assia competed for Switzerland and immediately scored the most points with her song "Refrain".
