The city of Bristol has launched its bid to host Eurovision 2023 using the still-under-construction YTL Arena.
Today during Bristol Pride, the mayor of the city Marvin Ress via video link, announced the city’s plan to bid to host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest in 2023.
The city plans to use the YTL Arena which is still currently under construction as the venue of the event. This new arena will use the former Brabazon hangar where the Bristol Brabazon was built in the late 1940s. The arena is planned to be able to have 17,000 seats using the large space that was once used to make the largest aircraft ever built in the UK. It is reported that 28,000m2 of floor space will be available.
Planning permission for the YTL arena was granted in 2020 and according to the Bristol Post construction started in early 2022 and at the time was due to finish in 2024. Given the fact the main structure of the arena is already built, it is not unlikely the completion date could be moved to have the venue ready by early 2023.
Converting a pre-existing industrial structure for the purpose of hosting the contest is not an untested idea. In 2014, Denmark opted to convert a former shipyard in Copenhagen into a custom venue for the contest that seated around 10,000 spectators. That same year Malta also hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in a shipyard in Marsa, Malta. Should Bristol host the event, it would mark the second time a former transportation-related structure has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest.
Should the United Kingdom agree to host the 2023 contest, it would be the sixth occasion on which the country has hosted after the original host nation was unable to, following for the Netherlands in 1960, France in 1963, Monaco in 1972, Luxembourg in 1974 and Israeli in 1980. It would also extend the United Kingdom’s record of hosting the contest to nine times.
To date, the following cities have expressed interest in hosting the 2023 contest:
- Aberdeen
- Belfast
- Birmingham
- Brighton
- Bristol
- Cardiff
- Glasgow
- Leeds
- Liverpool
- London
- Manchester
- Sheffield
- Sunderland
- Wolverhampton
Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song “Stefania”. It was Ukraine’s third victory in the contest’s history.
Source: Marvin Rees| Image Source: Bristol Post
