Refshaleøen – Eurovision Island – Copenhagen. Photograph : Wikipedia

How much does it cost to host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014? Yesterday in an interview with the Danish newspaper “BT”, executive producer of Eurovision 2014 Ms Pernille Gaardbo spoke of the budget for the Song Contest.

DR (Danish Broadcaster) are estimating that the budget for the contest will be in the region of 190 million Danish kroner or about 25 million euros. Eurovision in Malmo this year is being used as a financial blueprint for 2014. Ms Gaardbo said “Our ambition is that the budget and quality will be in line with Eurovision in Malmö. Of course we’re going to make it much cooler than they did!”. Good to see Scandinavian rivalry driving the production standards of the contest.

The budget maybe is estimated but the financing has not yet been finalised. Sponsorship deals, ticket revenues and number of participants, will eventually be taken into consideration before a final figure can be specifically confirmed.

There is then a separate budget to be considered for the renovation of Refshaleøen and the B&W Hallerne, which is now known as “Eurovision Island”. As you will have seen from our previous articles there is a considerable volume of work to be carried out on Refshaleøen to bring it up to the specifications of DR for Eurovision 2014.

“Host City Copenhagen” is the umbrella organisation that is responsible for preparing Refshaleøen and Copenhagen for the contest next year. The organisation consists of Copenhagen Municipality, The Capital Region, Wonderful Copenhagen tourism agency, and the Refshaleøen property owners, REDA.

Their budget is a separate cost to hosting the contest. “Host City Copenhagen” is working towards a budget of 35 million Danish kroner or €4.5 million euros.

Martin Bender of “Host City Copenhagen” has said “We have a budget of about 35 million kroner, which covers, among other things, transportation of people, arena construction in the hall, renovation of the hall, marketing, airport level security, power consumption, city dressing, and the establishment of a club in the capital with room for 3000 Eurovision guests, which will be the most attractive nightclub in Europe.”

Plans and schedules are on target according to Ms Gaardbo.

Eurovision will certainly breathe life back into the Refshaleøen area of Copenhagen and hopefully create a sustainable entertainment area of the city going forward.

Does spending €30 Million on Eurovision 2014 sound like a sound investment to you?

Author/Website co-founder and Editor in Chief Garrett Mulhall

Source : BT, ESC Reporter and Eurovision Ireland