It seems that Ukraine is getting ready to host Eurovision Song Contest 2017 that according to the preliminary dates will be held on 16, 18 and 20 May 2017. So far, five cities have expressed their interest in hosting the upcoming contest, with the most promising bid so far belongs to the NSC Olimpiskiy Stadium in Kyiv, which is located near the Palace of Sports that hosted the contest back in 2005. "I'm incredibly proud of Ukraine and grateful to Jamala for this victory which is important for all of us. We will do everything along with the necessary preparations to hold the Eurovision Song Contest at the highest level in Kyiv again. The preparations are already underway." says Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv.



There are many new or renovated football stadiums in Ukraine as the country has hosted the UEFA Euro 2012 in collaboration with Poland. One of the possible venues for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 is the NSC Olimpiskiy Stadium, with a total capacity of 70,050 in sport events. The stadium has publicly expressed its will to host Eurovision 2017 in an official update mentioning also Jamala's support for Ukraine’s national football team that is soon to participate in UEFA Euro 2016.

Lviv is another optional city for hosting the contest, offering Arena Lviv with a capacity of almost 35,000 seats in football matches. An indoor complex was supposed to be built in Lviv for EuroBasket 2015. Eventually, the championship was relocated to five cities accross Europe because of the political and financial crisis in the country which made it difficult for Ukraine to host the event. Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv, has stated that if needed, the complex can be built in time for Eurovision 2017.



More cities expressing interest in hosting the contest are Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk and Kherson, however without a nominated arena so far. Ukraine got the right to host Eurovision 2017 following the win of Jamala in this year’s Eurovision final that was held on last Saturday, with the song 1944.

I think I might go to Eurovision next year. After all I don't need a visa or anything like that

They should use pre-existing structures, otherwise the expense is too much.

UK should withdraw or at the very least take its chances in the semis and stop funding it. Let the East European countries play politics all they want with their funding. I think the competition should be split into two now.

err, no. Cheapest 4 hours with high ratings of the year for the BBC, give or take bake-off shows. The UK can always withdraw from contributing and take it's chances in the semis, but given the other countries pay British professional songwriters to write them stuff, and the BBC open it up for any nobody to apply for (for free) I wouldn't bank on ever qualifying! The last time we had a professionally-written song by a professional UK songwriter we came 5th. (Hi Andrew L-W ) I'm ignoring Waterman as he hadnt had a hit in decades...

That's one of the perks of Russia not winning - no visa needed for Ukraine, you just show up and you get at least a month (or more?)'s stay.

I do feel sorry for those who had to get to Moscow 2009 or Baku 2012 who had to fill out a ton of forms before entering the country!

One month ago Romanian broadcaster TVR faced sudden withdrawal from European Broadcasting Union member services after the broadcaster had accumulated 16 million Swiss franc of debt over almost a decade. And now it looks like Bosnia and Herzegovina’s broadcaster BHRT may face the same fate, with the broadcaster owing the EBU six million Swiss francs.

BHRT reports that the EBU has given the broadcaster until the end of May to settle part of their debt, and expects further repayment to be made in monthly instalments.

If BHRT does not meet the repayment schedule, the EBU is threatening to withdrawal its member services. For BHRT, the big threat is not having rights to broadcast the upcoming Euro 2016. But it would also include news services, Champions League matches, other football matches involving Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And, of course, it would mean that Bosnia and Herzegovina would not be able to broadcast or participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken a break from Eurovision from 2013 to 2015, but returned with the supergroup of Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner & Jala and their dramatic song “Ljubav je”. The entry didn’t cost the public broadcaster anything — it was privately funded by commercial sponsors and the artists themselves.

As we saw in Stockholm, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a lot of talent on offer. They’ve been participating in Eurovision since 1993 and we aren’t ready to see them leave again.

The bidding process to host Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will be completed today in Ukraine with 6 cities officially entering the race: Kyiv, Dnipro, Lviv, Odessa, Kharkiv and Kherson.

At the special press-conference today, Deputy Chairman of the Lviv City Development council Andriy Moskalenko confirmed Lviv is bidding with two venues - stated owned "Arena Lviv" stadium (34.000 capacity) and the unfinished Eurobasket arena on Kulparkovska street. The construction of the latter is currently around 25% completed and is privately financed project. "There is the Copenhagen experience, and we plan to offer similar solutions to the Eurovision 2001", stated Moskalenko. At the same time Moskalenko refused to comment budget issues for the proposals.

As we reported earlier, Kyiv City Administration was looking onto three options to host the event: Sports Palace (up to 10.000), which hosted it in 2005, NSC Olimpiyskiy (70.000 capacity) and International Exhibition Center, which can host up to 18.000 people. However, representatives of IEC informed ESCKAZ earlier this week they were never approached with any discussion or proposal. Sports Palace in April 2017 is occupied with Ice Hockey World Championships, and no solution to this was found yet, last week organizing committee of the championship was appointed, which rejected any move proposals. ESCKAZ approached Kyiv city administration with the request for information which arenas are included in the final official bid, but received the response that this is confidential information, which can not be revealed at this moment. However, it was confirmed that Kyiv will not need any help from the state budget, organizing the contest completely on the city budget money.

Dnipro is making it's mind between three options: "Dnipro-Arena" stadium, sports complex "Meteor" and yet another unfinished arena for Eurobasket. "Dnipro-Arena" has 30.000 seats, but will require construction of the roof. Eurobasket arena requires state financing to be completed, and will be able to accommodate around 10.000 people. Ice hockey venue "Meteor" can accommodate up to 10.000 people as well, is state owned, but requires very serious renovations. If the Cabinet of Ministers will provide appropriate financing, all can be done in time", stated Head of culture and Arts of the City Council Yevgen Khoroshilov.

After considering several options, Kharkiv City Council has decided that the bid will be made to host Eurovision on the "Metallist" stadium (capacity 40.000), which according to Deputy Mayor Igor Terekhov will require enormous amount of work. The existing roof of the stadium covers only seated area, but has perhaps the most sophisticated structure, as it is built on the V-shaped columns that are installed around the stadium, and thus not making any additional pressure on the stands. The roof already holds the complete lighting system, electronic display and also has 2 more rig unites earlier planned for commentator booths. According to the architects, it can hold enormous amount of equipment and can withstand a 8 magnitude earthquake. Kharkiv also has unfinished Eurobasket venue, and suitable Sports Palace but it looks they won't be included in the bid.

Speaker of the Odessa City Council Natalia Maltseva admits that "the only problem of all the cities is the lack of a covered arena, so each city will try to find own solution to this". At this moment Odessa is proposing to cover "Chernomorets" stadium (34.000 capacity) with a tent structure, while it is believed that existing rig will be able to hold necessary light and sound equipment for the competition. Odessa also has unfinished Eurobasket venue, but it looks it won't be included in the bid. It is unknown whether Odessa will require state budget to finance the project.

According to the Minister of Culture of Ukraine Yevgen Nischuk, the weakest proposal comes from Kherson. It has no other venue than "Kristall" stadium (11.000 capacity) and proposes to construct a new arena or completely reconstruct the existing stadium with the state budget help, while city will be able to allocate only 1-1.5 mln Euros.
Organization of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Ukraine will cost the country around 15 mln Euros, while additionally 15 more mln should be secured as financial guarantee at the bank account in Switzerland for the case of force majeure, they will be frozen there until the competition is completed - informed this week head of NTU Zurab Alasania.

We remind that further stages of selection process include:
8-15 July - Preliminary analysis of applications, candidates cities, including the financial guarantees.
18-22 July - Consideration of applications by the Organizing Committee and the announcement of 2 finalists cities, informing EBU on the outcome of the process, submission to them the detailed bids of the finalists
22 July - 1 August - EBU and Organizing committee on site inspection of the candidate cities and selection of the winning bid
1 August - Announcement of the Eurovision 2017 city and venue at a special press-conference.