Following the releases of the bidbooks by Maastricht and Rotterdam, the two shortlisted cities to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, it has been revealed that the deadline for broadcasters to submit their entries for the 2020 contest has been set for 9 March.

An early March deadline!

As explained by 1Limburg, the bidbook submitted by the losing finalist, Maastricht, stated their plans for the location of the Heads of Delegations meeting. This is the point in the Eurovision seasons where broadcaster delegates must submit their entries and staging plans for the upcoming contest. The Maastricht bidbook states that the meeting would’ve taken place at the TEFAF art fair on 9 March 2020.

Therefore, we can be confident that this is indeed the date in place for the 2020 Heads of Delegations meeting and the deadline for entries to be chosen and submitted.

Furthermore, for the last five years, Melodifestivalen in Sweden has taken place on the weekend immediately prior to the Monday Heads of Delegations meeting. With the final of Melodifestivalen 2020 set for March 7, this is further evidence that March 9 is next year’s deadline.

The pre-season is closer than ever before!

This makes the entry deadline for Eurovision 2020 the earliest in recent memory with it traditionally taking place as close to the middle of the month as possible. You might have predicted March 16 as the most likely date for the 2020 contest to uphold this tradition but this has turned out not to be the case. Nevertheless, that just means that Eurovision pre-season is even closer!