Jon Ola Sand on the City Bid process: "Everything has to be scrutinised"

26 August 2016 at 16:10 CEST
Photo: EBU
Organising the Eurovision Song Contest is a complex task and yet a challenge that national broadcasters around Europe have met every single year since the programme began in 1956. Yesterday the announcement of the Host City of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest was postponed. The Ukrainian broadcaster, NTU, confirmed that this is due to some final details in the bid proposals which need further consideration. Jon Ola Sand, the Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest spoke to Eurovision.tv to provide an insight into the process.

The announcement of the Host City is a major milestone in the annual cycle of the Eurovision Song Contest. As both the EBU and Host Broadcaster NTU have previously communicated, this is the most critical decision that will be made about the 2017 competition, and so the necessary time must be taken to ensure that the right Host City is selected.

"Everything has to be scrutinised. It's not a case of talking to the city once or twice. You need to sit down and negotiate down to the smallest detail" - Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest

Background to the City Bid process

Earlier this summer NTU unveiled an ambitious plan to select the Host City for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. Six cities were initially shortlisted:

  • Dnipro
  • Kharkiv
  • Kherson
  • Kyiv
  • Lviv
  • Odesa

Dnipro, Kyiv and Odesa made it through to the final stages of the selection process which included an inspection of the three cities by the EBU and members of the Local Organisation Committee in Ukraine. Both the EBU and NTU have been candid in saying that whilst there are many advantages with each city option, there are also specific challenges which need to be solved. As Jon Ola Sand says:

"This year the key challenge has been to find a city that can meet all the expectations that the EBU and have Host Broadcaster have. That is why we are having detailed discussions and are on top of this so that these expectations are met". 

You can find out more about the Host City bid process in our in-depth article.

The Host City for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest was announced in September 2013 and in 2011 the choice of Dusseldorf was made public the previous October. Ukraine has successfully staged the Eurovision Song Contest before, in 2005, despite specific challenges. The tight race between the cities is a testament to the enthusiasm that each have towards hosting the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.