The ESC 2025 will take place in Basel
The decision has been made: The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 will be held in Basel. The city at the elbow of the Rhine was selected by the Swiss organiser of the Eurovision Song Contest, the SRG, yesterday evening and confirmed this morning by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Three and a half months after Nemo’s victory for Switzerland in the Swedish city of Malmö on 11 May 2024, the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) has found its next home in Switzerland: Basel will host the world’s largest music event as the so-called «Host City» and prevailed in the final sprint against Geneva. After submitting outstanding bids, the two cities were in a neck-to-neck race.
Refinement of the bid books
In the last few weeks since the shortlist was announced on 19 July, the cities Basel and Geneva that made it to the next round have had the opportunity to refine their bid books and provide additional information. The ESC core team visited both cities again, inspected the main and side event venues and assessed them according to an extensive criteria catalogue. The audit and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) acted as an independent party in both the preparation of these evaluation specifications and the assessment itself, thereby ensuring transparency, objectivity and traceability.
The best bid for the ESC 2025
The aim of this second round was to further assess the two best bids based on the additional information and new findings and to determine the most attractive overall bid for the ESC in Switzerland. For example, the suitability of the hall for the show-specific requirements, the creative ideas for the side events, the funds made available, the cultural programme as well as sustainability and safety concepts were all evaluated. The potential risks during the preparation and realisation were weighed up and expectations regarding added value in Switzerland were defined for the two border cities of Basel and Geneva. Close to 100 criteria were checked in total.
Let’s meet in Basel for the Grand Final on 17 May 2025
The SRG core team in charge of the ESC made a recommendation to the steering committee this week, and on Thursday evening the committee decided to follow their recommendation. This morning, the EBU, the responsible body for the event, also confirmed this choice: the ESC 2025 will take place in Basel. The date of the music event has now also been set: the Grand Final will take place on Saturday 17 May 2025. The selected Host City was announced today at 10 a.m. on the official ESC channels.
Reto Peritz and Moritz Stadler, the co-executive producers of the ESC said «We were impressed by the quality of the cities’ applications! All four cities, and especially Basel and Geneva in the final round, fought for the title of Host City by submitting creative ideas and following a very constructive approach. Because such commitment is not taken for granted, we would like to thank all the cities that applied. And congratulations to Basel! We look forward to working with you to make the ESC an unforgettable experience for everyone.»
The aim of the SRG is to organise not only a big party in Basel, but also a positive event full of diversity, creativity and openness, bringing people in Switzerland and abroad together.
