Nemo’s victory was only the third time Switzerland has won Eurovision, after victories in 1956 and 1988 – Copyright AFP Tobias SCHWARZ
Robin MILLARD
Basel will host the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest after being chosen ahead of Geneva on Friday to stage the 69th edition of the glitzy TV extravaganza.
Swiss singer Nemo’s 2024 Eurovision victory gave Switzerland the right to host next year’s edition of the kitsch annual spectacle on May 17.
Basel, which lies on the River Rhine or the border with France and Germany, was given the nod by the European Broadcasting Union.
“The EBU is thrilled that Basel has been selected as the host city for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. The contest was born in Switzerland in Lugano back in 1956 and it’s great to be bringing it back to its birthplace almost 70 years later,” said the contest’s executive supervisor Martin Osterdahl.
From its earnest 1950s beginnings, Eurovision has ballooned into a colourful giant annual celebration that never takes itself too seriously.
The contest puts host cities in the spotlight, with 163 million viewers worldwide watching this year’s event in Malmo, Sweden, where Nemo triumphed with the highly personal song “The Code”.
Nemo’s winning song ‘The Code’ encapsulated the artist’s personal journey towards discovering their non-binary identity – Copyright AFP/File OMER ABRAR
Hosting also has a knock-on boost for the hotel and tourism industries as Eurovision fanatics, artists and country delegations flock in.
The contest will be staged at St. Jakobshalle in the Munchenstein district on the edge of Basel.
Opened in 1976, it calls itself Switzerland’s top multi-purpose arena and can hold more than 12,000 spectators.
It hosts the Swiss Indoors men’s annual tennis tournament, an event won a record 10 times by hometown hero Roger Federer.
It has also hosted world and European handball championships, world curling championships and matches in the 1998 ice hockey world championships.
Later this year it will host Canadian singer Bryan Adams and a leg of the PDC European darts tour.
– Zurich, Bern already dropped –
The EBU public service media alliance which owns Eurovision, plus the host broadcaster SRG, made the location decision jointly.
SRG said the venue, public transport links, sustainability, hotel accommodation, security, investment, event experience and the support from the city were key factors in assessing the bids.
The process was supervised by the accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Following a surge of early enthusiasm from Swiss cities after Nemo’s victory, practical considerations soon kicked in and only four formal bids emerged by the end of June deadline.
Two bids — Bern in conjunction with Nemo’s hometown Biel, plus Zurich — were eliminated in mid-July, leaving just Geneva and Basel in play.
The financial demands of hosting Eurovision — and, in some quarters, even fear of the occult — sparked threats of local referendums to try to scupper the bids.
Swiss voters are used to having a direct say on how their taxes are spent, and some were bristling at the potential costs and hassle of bringing the Eurovision circus to town.
– Satanism concerns –
Under Switzerland’s direct democratic system, popular votes can be triggered on most any issue if enough signatures are gathered.
The Christian fundamentalist, right-wing Federal Democratic Union minor party said it would push for referendums against public financial support in any potential host city.
“What bothers us most is that Satanism and occultism are increasingly being celebrated or at least tolerated,” said the party’s executive board member Samuel Kullmann, according to the public broadcaster SRF, as he cited Ireland’s witchcraft-inspired 2024 entrant Bambie Thug.
– Demand on host cities –
Public money squabbles over big events are not uncommon in Switzerland.
The country will host the 2025 women’s European football championships, but the government wanted to reduce its promised contribution of 15 million Swiss francs to four million, before parliament reversed the cut.
Eurovision is a non-profit event, mostly financed by weighted contributions from participating EBU broadcasters.
Eurovision says that “given the benefits that will flow” to the host city, it must make a contribution to the competition’s hosting.
This can be “either financially or ‘in kind’ (e.g. covering expenses of city branding, side events, security, etc.)”.
The four potential host cities were lining up packages of 20-40 million Swiss francs ($23.5 million to $47 million).