Music City of Zurich bids to host ESC
The city of Zurich wants to host the next Eurovision Song Contest (ESC): it is officially bidding to host the event with the Hallenstadion, the Landiwiese on Lake Zurich and the Kongresshaus.
The ESC 2025 offers the opportunity for Zurich to present itself as a cosmopolitan city of culture and an attractive travel destination, the city council explained its decision to bid on Thursday.
According to Mayor Corine Mauch (SP), Zurich and the singing competition are a perfect match: "Zurich is just as colorful, just as lively, just as diverse." This city can and wants to take on this major project.
The city council is requesting a framework credit of CHF 20 million from the municipal council. This is a contribution to the total costs for the planning and implementation of the ESC. The credit is subject to the proviso that the SRG and the European Broadcasting Union also award the contract to the City of Zurich.
The cantonal government welcomes the City of Zurich's bid, as it announced on Thursday. It is applying to the Cantonal Council for a support contribution of CHF 5 million from the public benefit fund.
Hall with 15,000 seats
The City of Zurich's bid is based on various venues. The ESC live shows are to take place in the Hallenstadion, the largest event hall in Switzerland with around 15,000 seats. According to the press release, there is sufficient space available in the neighboring Messe Zürich for the space required by television.
A "Eurovision Village" will be set up on the Landiwiese on Lake Zurich. Various concerts, public viewings and other public events will take place there. The Kongresshaus will serve as a third ESC location for other official events as part of the major event.
Positive image effects
The city of Zurich has high hopes of winning the ESC. After all, the ESC shows reach more than 180 million viewers, and many fans from all over the world travel to the respective host city, it writes in its press release.
"It can be assumed that the city of Zurich will benefit from positive image effects in the long term thanks to the ESC and that the local added value will roughly double the funds invested. "
The city of Zurich developed the bid in collaboration with Zürich Tourism and the private partners AG Hallenstadtion, MCH Messe Schweiz AG and Kongresshaus Zürich AG.
