Eurovision 2023 - BBC

[Brekkie]

The strongest sign yet that the BBC is lined up to host next year has come from the president of RTVE in Spain who has told a local paper they expressed an interest in hosting but that the BBC will host if Ukraine cannot.

We were also interested in organising [Eurovision 2023]. But if Ukraine resigns, it will be the BBC that organizes it.”

https://wiwibloggs.com/2022/06/14/the-bb...ve/272730/

They also speculate it would be in Glasgow due to a month long gap in events there for May.

[p2004]

For what it's worth, the arena in question has strongly refuted that the gap in its events schedule is related to Eurovision - besides, if it does come to the UK I'll suspect the Beeb will have to do an open bidding process because otherwise cue the outcry.

[Brekkie]

Yes, FWIW I think it's coincidence too and it's not unusual for arenas to have significant gaps in their schedule. I also thought it seems a couple of weeks late too - heck not even sure a month would be long enough - but with the Champions League Final not till June 10th next year and Eurovision usually having to schedule around the various football finals that too may find itself a couple of weeks later due to the knock on effects of the World Cup.

[Steve]

Come on, we all know it’ll be in Studio B…

[telebox2001]

I think the Hydro gap is a coincidence but it's interesting the President of another Big Fiver has come out and said that.

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Yes, FWIW I think it's coincidence too and it's not unusual for arenas to have significant gaps in their schedule.  I also thought it seems a couple of weeks late too - heck not even sure a month would be long enough.

Eurovision normally takes over a venue from the start of April.

[Newshound47]

I think the Hydro gap is a coincidence but it's interesting the President of another Big Fiver has come out and said that.

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Yes, FWIW I think it's coincidence too and it's not unusual for arenas to have significant gaps in their schedule.  I also thought it seems a couple of weeks late too - heck not even sure a month would be long enough.

Eurovision normally takes over a venue from the start of April.

I can see the final being on the 27th May to avoid having to air semi 1 up against a CL semi and semi 2 up against the Europa and Conference league semis. They have clashed before but the EBU tries to avoid it.

[telebox2001]

Tends not to happen due to a. Satellite capacity and b. Broadcasters who have the rights to both competitions. Germany in particular (I think it's Germany) used to request a particular semi as they couldn't air the other one live.

[p2004]

It's not the President of RTVE who said anything about the SSE Hydro. Wiwibloggs, the fan press site in question, has previously posted a speculative article about the idea that Glasgow may be in the running for hosting Eurovision 2023 (which may well be true) due to the Hydro having that gap. The owners of the Hydro have refuted it, and from my reading it's not RTVE going out of its way to claim that Glasgow will host Eurovision.

And yes, a lot of juggling schedules around happens because of Eurovision. I believe you are thinking of the Swiss though - who have in the past requested specific semi-finals to avoid a clash with what I believe was ice hockey. Interestingly for them, their overflow channel at least in the German speaking regions is SRF info - the news channel. Imagine having Eurovision forced onto BBC News here, it'd look absurd.

[Brekkie]

Are countries still only required to carry the one semi final or is there a requirement to air both now, even if the second is only online?

I can't imagine there are many, if any, PSBs, who only have the one linear channel anymore.

[aaron_scotland]

If it is in the Hydro it's quite small, the green room may need to be in the exhibition hall right next door

[telebox2001]

I think the Hydro thing has come about because it stood in for wherever the venue in Edinburgh was in the movie - the arena was the Hydro, with the interior scenes filmed at Leavesden Studios against plate shots done in Tel Aviv.

[telebox2001]

Given events in Holyrood this week, Westminster will feel that it won't do them any harm to show off Scotland as part of the UK. However, by the same token, Holyrood - keen for a so-called "independent" Scotland to rejoin the EU - will sieze the opportunity to push the "We Are European" angle. Likewise, Ukraine want a seat at the table in Brussels too. For those reasons I can see Glasgow being a very popular choice.

Politics does ultimately play a part in these things (For example, Estonia's admission to the EU was helped by the good hosting of Tallin 2002) and of course, the whole reason Ukraine won and we're talking about a proxy host is very much because of politics.

The BBC are also able to sell any co-pro to certain quarters of the press as "helping Ukraine" which will hopefully offset the "taxpayers money spent on vulgar campfest" headlines we'll inevitably see.

[p2004]

The BBC are going to have a lot to consider if they are asked to host (which is still a big if, there is absolutely nothing beyond an RTVE chief claiming it's like this) regarding choosing a host city.
Glasgow's Hydro is not an uncapable arena by any stretch, but in my opinion if the UK are to host I have serious questions about the accomodation question and the transport connectivity - both are places where Glasgow does overall lack compared to the other major frontrunners. Train services to Glasgow aren't the best, and air connectivity certainly doesn't stack up against modern host cities.
Leeds is a similar vein of issue. Though I think the West Yorkshire region together will be able to pass the accomodation issue, there is a massive question about air transport, as Leeds Bradford is certainly not capable of handling a Eurovision related influx. But additionally it has a fairly different shape to the typical dome-y arena, which will present a challenge in terms of fitting the stage in.
London is a safe choice, but also one that the BBC might be hesitant to take. London doesn't need the additional tourism stress that Eurovision would bring to the city, which would also be a factor here - tourism in general is pretty busy in London all through the year, and Eurovision exasperating this may be a strain on the transport there.
Manchester feels like the other safe choice, but the one the BBC are more favouring. I don't know which arena we're talking about (there's a new one on the way) but it's certain the mayor will be pushing this case. Manchester Airport is pretty capable when it's running normally - which I'd assume would be happening in a year. They also got a new terminal so influxes shouldn't be a massive issue. But again, transport infrastructure in Manchester is possibly a big issue - without going into too much detail, the trams are not that reliable and the trains bottleneck in central Manchester.
The other candidates really are Birmingham and Sheffield, maybe even Newcastle. Cardiff doesn't have a big enough arena to justify this.

[Jon]

Cardiff has a 70,000+ capacity stadium with closable roof. Alright that might be too big?

[Brekkie]

Glasgow is more than capable of hosting international events and has been doing so for decades. The bonus perhaps of Glasgow (or Cardiff or Belfast) is there could be additional funding coming from the devolved administrations too, whilst in England you're relying on city councils who are unlikely to cough up as much, although Northern England would tick the "levelling up" narrative to attract funding from Westminster.

The BBC is also used to staging events across the country with the likes of Big Weekend and SPOTY going beyond just the big cities. Indeed the UK is spoiled for choice really when it comes to potential venues compared to Italy where realistically they only ever had one venue really in contention.