The Israeli national broadcaster has recommended to the EBU that Tel Aviv be named as the host city of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
Israel Hayom reports that senior officials at KAN, the Israeli national broadcaster, have recommended that Tel Aviv be named as the host city of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. According to the newspaper the European Broadcasting Union is expected to accept the recommendations of the broadcaster in the next couple of days.
Tel Aviv’s bid to host the competition would see the contest hosted at the Tel Aviv Convention Centre. The Convention Centre which is also known as the Fairgrounds, is a complex formed of various pavilions. Pavilion 2 which was completed in 2015 is the cities suggested venue for the competition. It is able to host up to 10,000 people.
Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are the last two cities left in the bidding process for next years Eurovision Song Contest. Eilat was forced to drop out of the race last week after the European Broadcasting Union stated that the bid did not meet the requirements for hosting the competition.
The Israel Hayom reports that the competition is most likely to be held during the second half of May. This would be the first time that the contest has been held at the end of May since the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria.
Israel won the right to host the competition after their representative in 2018 Netta won the contest with her entry “Toy”. There were doubts in the months that followed whether Israel would financially be able to host. However they recently managed to secure funding and pay the initial deposit to the EBU before the deadline.
Israel has played host to the Eurovision Song Contest twice before. Previously they have held the contest in Jerusalem in 1979 and then 20 years later in 1999. Both times they held the contest in the International Convention Center.
Source: Israel Hayom
