The city of St. Gallen has confirmed that it will not bid to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.
St.Gallen has confirmed in a statement that it will not be bidding to host the 69th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, finding that it cannot meet the requirements to host the competition. The statement explained:
The city of St.Gallen, together with the canton of St.Gallen, St.Gallen-Bodensee Tourism and Olma Messen, has now studied the framework conditions in detail. St.Gallen is ready to host major events. Despite all the creativity in finding solutions, the extensive and demanding conditions formulated in the tender do not allow a candidacy with a chance of success. An application is currently not realistic, despite the tempting unprecedented international attention as a host city.
The statement goes on to explain the the city and wider region would not be able to meet the demands from a venue or hotel room capacity, or cover certain requirements from an infrastructure or sponsorship perspective:
According to the tender documents, the host city in particular will be responsible for numerous services and costs. These include all expenses for security, city branding, energy, disposal, sewage, water, cleaning and shuttle service. The host city is also expected to set up and finance a Eurovision Village (fan zone with supporting program, concerts, live viewings, etc.) and a EuroClub as a party venue for the fan clubs. At the same time, existing sponsorship documents, for example those at the new St.Galler Kantonalbank Halle, must be covered. In any case, the procurement of sponsorship money is handled very restrictively. Overall, including an additional financial contribution that is crucial for the award of the contract, costs in the order of 30 to 40 million francs would be estimated, a large part of which would have to be covered by the public sector.
The number of hotels with more than 25 rooms cannot be met within the required maximum travel times. The exclusive allocation of the Olma site during the eight weeks of occupancy from the end of March to the end of May 2025 would result in difficult-to-estimate losses in revenue for Olma Messen and cancellations of trade fairs (including OFFA) as well as postponements of events. This would put a strain on Olma Messen’s long-standing good relationships with loyal exhibitors, partners and visitors. In addition, the infrastructure would have to be upgraded with costly expansions for the ESC. Conclusion: These high requirements cannot currently be met in the required form in our region.
Eurovision 2025
The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 is set to be held in Switzerland following the victory of Nemo with “The Code”. Switzerland won the Eurovision Song Contest for a third time, having won the 1956 and 1988 editions of the competition.
To date, Geneva and Basel have confirmed they will bid to host Eurovision 2025. Cities have until the end of June to submit their bids to SSR SRG for assessment.
Image Source: Wikimedia/Tilman2007 | Source: St. Gallen
