The Dutch national broadcaster, NPO, has officially asked the Dutch government for a financial contribution in order to host the forthcoming 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam according to Dutch media portal Showniews.

The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest is set to take place at the Rotterdam Ahoy on 12, 14 and 16 May, thanks to Duncan Laurence‘s epic victory earlier this year in Tel Aviv. The shows will be co-organized by Dutch broadcasters NPO, NOS and AVTROTROS.

Hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in today’s age and day has become a costly affair which involves a lot of hard work, pre contest preparations, side events, general organization, security and safety measures, technical and logistic requirements, stage construction, large main ESC venue, side venues (Euroclub, Press Centre, Delegation Bubble, Eurovision Village), transport for accredited media/delegations, hotel accomodation etc.

Dutch national broadcasters, NPO, has officially submitted a request to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science to make a financial contribution to the organization of the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam next year. This has been confirmed by Minister Slob‘s spokesperson to Dutch media portal Shownieuws.

According to the spokesperson, the request is now at the Ministry and is being looked into. The details of the request and the amount involved are not clear. The public broadcaster takes into account that the costs for hosting the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest will be around 30 million Euros. Part of the cost will be funded by a contribution from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), sponsorships and the sale of tickets. But this amount is not estimated to be sufficient to finance the entire event.

Last August just after unveiling Rotterdam as the 2020 ESC Host City, Ms.Shula Rijxman (NPO CEO) commented that she hoped that politicians would contribute 15- 20 million Euros for organizing the competition. For the time being, the House of Representatives does not seem to be keen on spending tens of millions on the event.

The costs incurred by the NPO for the organization of the music spectacle relate to the TV show and the event itself. The Municipality of Rotterdam will be also contributing a hefty sum in order to organize the event. The city has reserved circa 15.5 million Euros, which will be used for the so-called side events, city dressing and theme art seen throughout the city during the Eurovision period.