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Eurovision Song Contest 2020

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Eurovision Song Contest 2020

The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have consisted of two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May and a final on 16 May 2020, to be held at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was being organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO), Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), and AVROTROS, all of which would have staged the event after AVROTROS had won the 2019 contest for the Netherlands with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. This was the first and only edition in the contest's history to be cancelled, being called off on 18 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Broadcasters from forty-one countries would have participated in the contest; Bulgaria and Ukraine would have returned after their absence from the 2019 contest, while Hungary and Montenegro had confirmed their non-participation after taking part in the previous edition. All 41 competing songs and artists were confirmed by the participating broadcasters by early March 2020.

Following the cancellation, the EBU began discussions of potential carryovers for the 2021 contest, such as the host venue, the songs, and artists, with the participating broadcasters. In place of the cancelled contest, the EBU, NPO, NOS, and AVROTROS organised a non-competitive replacement show, Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, to showcase the selected entries on 16 May, the day of the planned final. The Dutch broadcasters remained the hosts of the 2021 contest on 18, 20, and 22 May 2021 in the same venue in Rotterdam, however, the songs selected for the 2020 contest were not eligible for 2021.

The 2020 contest was to be held at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the 2019 edition with the song "Arcade", performed by Duncan Laurence. It would have been the fifth time that the Netherlands had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1958, 1970, 1976, and 1980. Rotterdam Ahoy had previously hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007.

Preparations for the 2020 contest began on 19 May 2019, immediately after the Netherlands won the 2019 contest. Jon Ola Sand, the executive supervisor of the contest on behalf of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), handed AVROTROS, the Dutch participating broadcaster, a stack of documents and a USB drive with tools to begin the work needed to host the next contest, during the winner's press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel. AVROTROS was to co-organise the event with sister broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) and their parent public broadcasting organisation, Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO).

Already prior to the 2019 contest, when bookmakers expected Duncan Laurence to win, several Dutch cities, including Amsterdam, The Hague and Maastricht, announced their intent to host the contest should the Netherlands win. A spokesperson for NPO also stated that the broadcaster had a rough plan for how they would select the host city in the event of a Dutch victory. When Laurence won the contest, mayors of various municipalities immediately began lobbying Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, through text messages. Public figures, including Laurence, Esther Hart, Getty Kaspers and André Rieu, voiced their support for their respective favourite host cities.

The hosting broadcasters launched the bidding process on 29 May 2019. In the first phase of this process, cities were to formally apply to bid. Nine cities—Amsterdam, Arnhem, Breda, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Hague, Leeuwarden, Maastricht, Rotterdam, and Utrecht—did so and received a list of criteria they and their venues needed to meet on 12 June 2019. Initially, Zwolle had also considered launching a bid to host the event but the city ultimately decided against doing so because it deemed its venue, the IJsselhallen, to have unsuitable proportions. Enschede could have been a potential host city as Enschede Airport Twente considered bidding to host the event in its eleventh hangar, however, it later learned that Enschede's municipality executive board had decided against financially supporting such a bid.

From this point on, these nine cities had until 10 July 2019 to compile their bid books to demonstrate their capabilities to host the contest. Further cities were still able to join in on the bidding race by applying prior to the deadline. During this period, four cities withdrew. Amsterdam could not host the contest because it was preoccupied with hosting other events during the contest's time frame. Breda dropped out due to financial concerns. Leeuwarden ceased bidding due to the insufficient height of the ceiling of its WTC Expo. The Hague dropped its bid because both of its potential venues were unsuitable for the event. The local Cars Jeans Stadion football stadium would have been large enough but lacked a roof, and installing such a roof would have made the bid financially unviable. Its other option would have been spanning a tent over the Malieveld field, but after reviewing the hosting conditions, this option fell out of favour. Following its withdrawal, The Hague turned to support Rotterdam's bid instead.

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