The organising broadcasters of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 have opened the City Bid process to determine where the contest will be held next year. NPO, NOS and Avrotros are calling for cities and regions to apply.
How will the City Bid process work?
The City Bid process will consist of three phases. The first phase has started now. Interested cities and regions are asked to confirm their interest to NPO. The broadcaster will then send a guide their way. The guide contains information and conditions when cities wish to host the Eurovision Song Contest in their venues.
After reading the document, cities can submit a bid book to the organising broadcasters and the EBU. Such a bid book usually contains information regarding the venue they’re offering, infrastructure, hotel rooms, branding and more. The organisers will read through each of the bid books to decide which cities they wish to visit.
Visiting those cities and regions is phase three of the City Bid process. Together with the EBU, the Dutch broadcasters will take a look in each of the (remaining) offers. They will then make a decision as to who’s hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.
NPO have said they hope to announce the final decision as soon as they possibly can after that. Last year, EBU and KAN announced Tel Aviv as their host city on 13th September. This was in line with the Ukrainian announcement in 2016, when Kyiv was chosen on 9th September. Portugal didn’t need quite as long, announcing Lisbon on 25th July. For the Netherlands, early August seems like the most logical option.
A region to host?
The call for applications to host the contest specifically mentions both cities and regions. We have reached out to NPO, Avrotros and NOS to see if this means that a Junior Eurovision 2019 construction is possible. For JESC, the Polish region of Silesia will host the contest, with the city of Gliwice providing the venue.
Such offers might also be on the table for The Netherlands. The forest-rich region of the Veluwe have said they’re looking to bring the contest there, to the city of Arnhem. At the same time, the province of Noord-Brabant have also spoken out about their wish to bring the contest there. Either Breda or ‘s-Hertogenbosch should materialise as their choice.
You can see the full list of potential venues below. Note that none of the Amsterdam venues have actively said they want the contest. All we know is that Amsterdam might be in the race and these are just the options they might have.
| Location | Venue | Capacity |
| Amsterdam | Amsterdam RAI Convention & Exhibition Centre | 12.900 |
| Amsterdam | Ziggo Dome | 17.000 |
| Amsterdam | Johan Cruijff Arena | ± 60.000 |
| Rotterdam | Ahoy Rotterdam | 15.818 |
| Arnhem | GelreDome | 41.000 |
| Utrecht | Jaarbeurs | 11.000 |
| Maastricht | MECC Maastricht – Noordhal | 20.000 |
| Province North Brabant | Brabanthallen ‘s-Hertogenbosch | 11.000 |
| Province North Brabant | Breepark Breda | 13.000 |
| The Hague | Cars Jeans Stadion | 15.000 |
| The Hague | Malieveld (depending on a tent) | 15.000 |
| Leeuwarden | WTC Expo – Friezenhal | 10.000 |
| Enschede | Airport Twente | 11.000 |
