Dnipro appears to have lost all hope of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, following comments made by the Head of the Ukrainian national broadcaster.
Zurab Aslania the Head of NTU stated that Kyiv and Odessaย have significant advantages, in a statement on Facebook Mr Aslania failed to mention Dnipro. The comments follow the delaying of the announcement of the host city for Eurovision 2017 for an unknown period of time. The Mayor of Dnipro, Borys Filatov has reacted angrily to the comments of Mr Aslania, he has already been outspoken about the delays to the bidding process.
Dnipro has instead decided to invest in their proposed venue the Meteor Sports Complex regardless of whether they are awarded the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 or not. The regional Government will be writing to the Cabinet of Ukraine to request the transfer of the Sports Complex to local control. The investment in the arena will according to local officials will benefit not only Dnipro and its residents but Ukraine as a whole.
Dnipro as a host city had promised to spend Euro 18 million on the contest as well as the rebuilding of infrastructure for the contest. This money would spent on renovating the Meteor Stadium which will be renamed the DniproEuroArena. The Meteor Stadium requires the construction of a new roof capable of meeting the technical requirements for the contest.
[tw-accordion class=โโ] [tw-accordion-section title=โThe DniproEuroArenaโ] Currently known as the Meteor Sports Arena it was built in 1983. The venues were planned to beย renamed the DniproEuroArena for the contest and go under renovations before May. The venue would be capable of holding just under 10,000 fans for the contest in May. The neighboring building in the Meteor complex is planned the press center and Euroclub.[/tw-accordion-section] [/tw-accordion]
Dnipro officially remains one of three possible host cities for the Eurovision Song Contest alongside Kyiv and Odessa.
Source: Borys Filatov,ย Yury Golyk
NTU, you just lost a potential host because YOU always postpone the host city announcement. Three times, just sayin…
NTU aren’t capable to host, EBU must punish them, and take away the contest, ask if some arena in Germany, Belgium or The Netherlands is able to host
Yes, the Ukraine doesn’t offer any suitable venues enough good to host the contest, I think that the EBU should let the bidding phase go to Australia since they placed second, and let them decide which country they’d like to host the competition in.
Relax people. Germany had once announced their host city for ESC 2011 even later, in October, after four cities were battling it out. Still it was a well organized good contest in the end. So please put your worries aside and look forward to a hopefully wonderful ESC 2017! Remember also that Ukraine is quite experienced already with hosting Eurovision events – ESC 2005, JESC 2009 & JESC 2013. Every four years another contest, not many other countries had to manage that …
The difference is though that Germany anyway delivered a high quality show, while Ukraine struggled to do so back in 2005, and in JESC 2009 (compared to 2008) and in 2013 (compared to 2012 and 2014). Just compare ESC 2012 to ESC 2011; the differences between the shows are big both when it comes to production and overall quality. Hopefully, the Ukraine can break this trend with eastern countries delivering a weaker production, maybe the host city announcement delay is a sign to this? Let’s wait and see. ๐