The Brabanthallen venue in Den Bosch, The Netherlands, has failed to secure its bid to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 due to the funding, the venue size, and hotel room availability.
The local municipality in Den Bosch has revealed that the shortlisted Rotterdam and Maastricht outscore Brabanthallen, which doesn’t meet the required 18-metre ceiling height.
Venue size
The height of 17 metres is compensated by the design of the hall, which has previously hosted large concerts and TV productions. The trusses would be at no less than eighteen metres apart, providing sufficient space for the flight movements of cameras.
“Your location does not have the preferred height of eighteen metres,” the selection committee mentioned in a tight evaluation which the municipality of Den Bosch made public along with the bid book on Wednesday.
However, Rotterdam and Maastricht simply score better on that, even with the hall in Maastricht being only 17.5 meters high.
Too few hotel rooms blocked
Another issue that the venue ran into was the number of hotel rooms blocked for the event did not meet the required minimum.
The city couldn’t guarantee the required seven thousand hotel rooms to be available during the event in 2020.
Earlier, some of the hoteliers in the city also told local paper Brabants Dagblad that they had not blocked any rooms. Meanwhile, they had done so before the Handboog Shooting World Championships, for example. Rotterdam and Maastricht scored better in that category too.
The committee noted that in and around the Brabanthallen there is enough space for all the necessary facilities.
Despite all the hassle about the funding, the committee expressed its appreciation for the city’s substantial financial contribution. In the meantime, the evaluation mentioned that Rotterdam and Maastricht would have a little more money left over.
Selection of Maastricht and Rotterdam for host cities
The selection committee shortlisted Maastricht and Rotterdam as the final two cities in the race in mid-July.
Sietse Bakker, Executive Producer of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest made the following statement after the announcement of the two finalists:
“All the cities and venues have put a lot of effort into their bids. We were impressed with all the proposals and would like to thank everyone involved so far for their positive input and commitment. We are convinced Maastricht and Rotterdam offer everything that a Host City requires.”
What happens next?
The final decision by the selection committee is expected sometime in mid-August. Until then, the committee will travel to the two cities and assess their proposals in finer detail. The two cities have presented their bids in video form as well, which you can watch below.
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