Manchester, Madchester, city of music, and the hopeful home of Eurovision 2023. The council has put in a bid to host the show and welcome fans, acts and press from all over the world, and soon we'll know if we've been short-listed.
It was revealed last month that the show would not be held in Ukraine, whose entry won 2022's contest, because of the ongoing conflict, and would instead be coming to the UK, who memorably placed second. A total of 18 British cities have expressed interest, including Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Sheffield.
The decision is up to The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the BBC, and the cities in with a chance of hosting the Eurovision song contest will be confirmed on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show tomorrow morning.
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While it’s still very up in the air as to where the show will broadcast from, one thing is known for sure - next year’s contest will be a celebration, not just for the chosen city, but for Ukraine and its people as well.
But why should Manchester come out on top? What makes this city the clear best choice for hosting such a renowned event? Simply put, we deserve it.
That's what Sacha Lord, night time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, believes. He told the MEN: “I’m a passionate Manc, so I’m going to think this, but we had the toughest [Covid] restrictions, tougher than any other city region in the UK.
"We were in tier three for longer than anyone else, so the knock on effect for my sector, in terms of recovery and helping bars, restaurants, hotels, would be phenomenal and I just think we deserve it.
“We can’t ignore the fact that we were affected more than any other city region and so to get this would be huge for my sector. It really would, it would be a shot of adrenaline that’s very much needed.”
Late July in 2020, as many places were experiencing a lightening of restrictions, Manchester was plunged into a local lockdown with indoor meeting banned once again. This had a huge knock on effect to the hospitality industry, which continued for months as the tier three restrictions were later introduced.
However, Covid restrictions aren’t the only reason Lord believes Manchester should host this event. He believes that Manchester's infrastructure and history means we'd be best at hosting.
“I’ve looked at previous Eurovisions, London’s had it four times, we’ve never had it in Manchester and I think only a few weeks ago, when Parklife was going on, you also had 50,000 at the cricket ground for The Killers, you had the full Etihad stadium, a full arena stage and the city was bouncing," he said. "We can prove, with that and when we held the Commonwealth Games, that we’re set up for it.
“I know Bev and the team now will be looking at all of the different options, you know we’ve got stadiums, we’ve got arenas, it’s ours for the taking.
“I’m very, very confident that ours will be the strongest bid. We’ve got the musical background, we’ve got the biggest metropolitan festival in the UK, in Parklife - Warehouse Project is the nightclub project in Europe.
“If it went to London it would just be such an obvious choice. There would be no thought put into it whatsoever, it would be a knee jerk reaction."
However, Lord also thinks it's important to celebrate the Ukrainian win, adding: “I do believe that whenever the opportunity is right, it should be hosted in Ukraine. They had that win and they should have it.
“We’ve got such a significant Ukrainian population here as well. I think we should encourage that population to get involved and help steer this.”
Pat Karney, councillor for Harpurhey and Chair of Constitutional and Nomination Committee, agrees with Lord that Ukraine must be celebrated at the 2023 Eurovision.
He said: “First off, we have a large Ukrainian community here in Manchester, so we would work closely with them before we submit the bid and we would be committed to having a Eurovision that makes sure that Ukraine is centre stage because of the unusual circumstances of this year.
“In fact, I would hope that we would invite the president of Ukraine to be a part of Eurovision.”
However, Cllr Karney’s other reason for thinking Eurovision should be held in Manchester is due to the city’s large fan base. He explained: “In Manchester, we have a powerful case. We have a track record as a city of putting on global events, we have an international airport, we have the hotels. But, a big, big plus for Manchester is that we have the biggest fan base for Eurovision of any city in the UK.
“There’s more Eurovision fanatics than anywhere else. Obviously, it would be a multi-million pound boost to Manchester’s economy, people would be flying in from all over the world, the media would be flying in from all over the world and it would be a boost for our hotels, for our hospitality industry and it needs it, given the Covid pandemic.
“We think we have a powerful case in Manchester.”
Meanwhile, residents of Greater Manchester and people who love the city have been calling for Eurovision to come to Manchester.
Jay Anderson, 26, Salford told the Manchester Evening News: “I think Eurovision should [come to Manchester]: it would bring a lot more tourism into the city, it would be financially brilliant for local businesses after the last few years of issues with Covid lockdowns and all that. Bringing tourism back into the city would be a perfect thing for us."
Even further afield, people agree the song contest should be hosted in ‘the greatest city’, Craig Mcintosh, 54, from Leicestershire said: “I went to Eurovision in Stockholm, and it made a real difference to the city, it really was an amazing event. If the opportunity came for Eurovision to come to Manchester, it would be great for the city.
“I think the people of Manchester would buy in – they’d enjoy it immensely. Manchester’s the greatest city in the world, as I tell everyone on my travels, so for me, the Eurovision in Manchester would be amazing.”
The day it was announced that Eurovision would be held in the UK, Sacha Lord opened his laptop to tweet and found Manchester City Council leader Bev Craig, had beat him to it, writing: “Manchester will be bidding to host Eurovision. A world class music city, brilliant venues, experience in hosting major events, and of course one of the UK’s largest Ukrainian populations – we are confident we will make it a #eurovision to remember. More to follow.”
It's expected that the successful city will be announced in the Autumn. Once decided, a time will then be agreed by the EBU, BBC and the winning city, and a marketing campaign will be created, including branding, slogans and show details, over a sixth month period.
There will then be three live shows which usually follow the format of the first semi-final on Tuesday evening, the second semi-final on Thursday evening and then the grand finale on Saturday night.
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