Last Wednesday, five cities travelled to media city Hilversum in The Netherlands to hand in their bid books to the Eurovision 2020 organising committee.
Arnhem, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Maastricht and Den Bosch were all present but at the end of last week, a spokesperson for the committee announced we’d be saying goodbye to three of the five cities a week later already and today is that day!
Den Bosch, Arnhem and Utrecht are no longer with us and next year’s Eurovision will take place in either Rotterdam or Maastricht!

Sietse Bakker, Executive Producer of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest is delighted with the enthusiasm shown by all cities however and says:

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.
We are hoping the other cities will maintain their enthusiasm for the Song Contest. We’d love to discuss in the coming months how we can involve them in the event next year.

According to the Eurovision 2020 team themselves, they have chosen these cities as the last two because not only do they have room enough to let the TV shows take place, but they also have enough space for other required facilities like dressing rooms and a press center!
Not only that, but Rotterdam and Maastricht can also deliver enough hotel rooms and they are ready to come forward with big financial investments to make the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 possible.

Next week, the organising committee will pay the venues (MECC in Maastricht and Ahoy in Rotterdam) a visit, during which the focus will lie on the technical aspects of the venue itself, the requirements to actually host the events.
The financial side will be discussed at a later stage.

Mid-August is when the Eurovision 2020 committee expects to be ready to announce next year’s Host City!