Fri. Dec 6th, 2024

Eurovision Song Contest 2022 host broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (Rai) has announced the bidding process that will determine which city will earn the right to host next year’s contest. The venue must fulfil number of fixed criteria set in place by the EBU.

Some of conditions for the Host City and Venue:

  • An international airport no more than 90 minutes from the city.
  • Over 2,000 hotel rooms in the area close to the event.
  • A venue capable of hosting a large-scale live broadcast with the minimum requirements:

The Venue should be indoors with air-conditioning; have an audience capacity in the main hall of around 8,000 – 10,000; have space within easy access for a press centre capable of hosting over 1,000 journalists, delegation spaces, dressing rooms etc; be available exclusively for 6 weeks before the event, 2 weeks during the show and a week after the end of the event for dismantling – that’s nine weeks altogether.

Full details will be sent from Rai to all Italian cities that indicate they are interested in hosting the Contest. Bid books are expected to be presented to Rai and the EBU in the coming summer weeks.

Possible cities:

For now 12 cities expressed their interest in hosting the contest: Bari, Bologna, Florence, Milan, Naoles, Pesaro, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Rome, Sanremo, Turin and Verona.

Looking at the requirements, it’s almost obvious that Sanremo will not be able to proceed in the race. The city where Festival di Sanremo takes place, does not meet most of the requirements, as the mean venue – Teatro Ariston only holds 2,000 people. The same we can say about Naples with the capacity 5,500 of the main venue PalaBarbuto.

It also doesn’t look good for Verona (Arena di Verona) and Reggio Emilia (RCF Arena), as their proposal of hosting are an open air venue.

So we have most probably 8 cities left and there’s a long way to go in the bidding process. Of course fans can’t wait to book travel and accommodation but we all should wait once a host city has been confirmed.

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