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After Loreen made history in Liverpool in May by winning Eurovision for a second time with ‘Tattoo’ and taking Sweden’s win record up to 7 – now equal with Ireland – all eyes turn to the Scandinavian nation to find out where we’ll be heading for Eurovision 2024!
Multiple cities have put themselves forward to host the contest, so let’s take a look at the ones who have bid…
Gothenburg
Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden, have put forward the arena Scandinavium to take on hosting duties for Eurovision 2024. This venue is no stranger to hosting Eurovision – taking the contest on in 1985. The average capacity of this arena is up to 14,000 spectators for concerts.
Magnus Hallberg – who is part of the bidding team for Gothenburg – said of the bid:
We have looked at everything from arena capacity and solutions for sustainability, to creating an attractive party place for the audience, what the EBU usually calls Eurovillage. There are many pieces that have to fall into place, but we can handle that in Gothenburg.
Magnus Hallberg, Quote provided by Eurovoix
The issue Gothenburg faces is not just the cost of the contest, but also the current problems Scandinavium has. The municipal board have spoken of their concerns about the contest’s cost in comparison to “[fighting] to save our nurses and keep teachers in our schools”. Scaninavium also requires important structural fixes, such as changes to the roof to make it suitable for lighting and rigging purposes. The arena itself is also set to be demolished, but is said to be staying up whilst a new one is constructed, meaning it shouldn’t cause too much hassle to Eurovision. Could we be heading to Gothenburg in 2024?
Malmö
Eurovision viewers will be no stranger to Malmö – they hosted the contest the year after Loreen’s first win with ‘Euphoria’ back in 2013. Malmö Arena can hold on average around 15,000 people for concerts, and is the fourth largest arena in Sweden. It’s also a frequent host of Melodifestivalen, hosting a heat almost every single year since 2002 & hosting the final on 7 occasions.
In 2013 Martin Österdahl, who was then the Executive Producer of Eurovision, said Malmö was selected against it’s competitors Gothenburg and Stockholm as SVT preferred the contest to be “smaller, closer and personal”. After Liverpool was praised for its smaller-scale Eurovision (despite high ticket costs), could Malmö be the perfect choice for Eurovision once again?
Örnsköldsvik
Örnsköldsvik– also referred to commonly as Övik – would make Eurovision 2024 the most northernly hosted contest ever should they be granted hosting rights. Located in the county of Västernorrland, Örnsköldsvik has just over 55,000 residents in the muncipality. It’s also the only city of the four who’ve bid that hasn’t hosted Eurovision previously.
The arena they have bid is Hägglunds Arena. A similar capacity to Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena, this arena holds just 9,800 people on average and despite being an outsider for fans to host the contest, it’s certainly one on SVT’s radar. The arena has been host to multiple shows during Melodifestivalen’s tour format, holding shows in 2007, 2010, 2014, 2018 and more recently the 2023 semi-final.
Peter Selemark, the Örnsköldsvik Growth Manager, had this to say about their bid:
We welcome Eurovision home to Örnsköldsvik! The city where much of modern music is created. In the last Melodifestivalen alone, 11 out of 28 entries had connections to Musikmakarna [School in the Muncipality] and Örnsköldsvik. We are creating a sustainable and climate-neutral Eurovision as early as 2024, where we challenge and create the basis for the sustainable events of the future in the middle of the World Heritage High Coast
Peter Selemark, Örnsköldsvik Kommun
Could it be Örnsköldsvik for Eurovision 2024?
Stockholm
Friends Arena
Friends Arena was the front runner for fans for Eurovision 2024, and is no stranger to hosting live TV events.
Friends Arena is one of the largest arenas in Sweden, with a capacity of 65,000 – which can be scaled down if needed. It also hosts the final of Melodifestivalen, holding the national final every year since 2013 (aside from 2021).
Whilst all eyes were on Friends Arena to be selected – it seems that now another option may have to be chosen. It takes around 3 weeks to set up the staging for Eurovision, and a similar timescale to deconstruct it. When Loreen won Eurovision, Friends Arena was completely free for enough time in April & May 2024 to hold the contest – however, Taylor Swift has recently announced her tour dates for the European Leg of her ‘The Eras Tour’ – which falls at Friends Arena on May 17th & 18th 2024. That wouldn’t leave enough time before or after the contest to construct & deconstruct both Eurovision & Taylor’s stage designs to keep the contest hosted in its now-traditional month of May & with little possibility of the date being rescheduled, Friends Arena may once again miss the opportunity to host the contest.
Tele2 Arena
Tele2 Arena is the only other available arena in Stockholm in 2024 that could host Eurovision, and can hold up to 45,000 spectators for music shows. Tele2 Arena hosted ‘Eurovision: The Party’ during the Grand Final in 2016, whilst the main show was going on in Avicii Arena (who can’t host 2024 due to renovation works).
The issues for Tele2 Arena and Friends Arena also arise with football teams AIK & Hammarby – both use these arenas as their home grounds, and would have to give them up for Eurovision, which neither are prepared to do. However, with Friends Arena looking as though it could be no longer viable for Stockholm, will Tele2 get the main event?
Frihamnen Arena
When bidding closed, it was revealed Stockholm had put forward another choice for Eurovision. This choice is a temporary arena, which is yet to be built, as reported by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. The arena would be constructed in Frihamnen – which is close to SVT’s headquarters, and be able to hold just under 15,000 spectators. As Eurovision’s requirements become more demanding for arenas to accommodate, SVT’s thoughts are said to be that building a new arena will instantly give them the facilities to host the contest and show sustainability and innovation with “mobile arenas”.
SVT are expected to announce their choice for the 2024 contest imminently, and we can expect to find out in the coming weeks which city will be hosting next year!
Which city are you rooting for? Let us know in the comments & stay up-to-date with all things Eurovision over on our Twitter, Instagram, TikTok & YouTube!
