Finnish national broadcaster YLE wasted little time in announcing the venue and budget for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. The day following the victory of Lordi and "Hard Rock Hallelejah" in Athens, an invitation went out for potential Finnish venues to submit proposals to stage the contest in 2007. A total of eleven different venues from seven localities applied to host the contest. Four venues in the Finnish capital Helsinki; Hartwall Arena, Helsinki Ice Stadium, Helsinki Fair Centre and VR Konepaja all vied with Lahti’s Suurhalli, Kittilän Levi, Rovaniemi’s Lappi Arena, Pirkkahalli, Länsi Auto Arena in Espoo and the Ratina stadium in Tampere, and Turkuhalli, all entered applications.

Given that this will be Finland's first opportunity to host the event, after over forty years competing in the Eurovision Song Contest, the Helsinki venues started with an advantage, although there was a strong campaign by Turku which included offering a suitable venue, free of charge.

However the main advantage that venues in Helsinki had was the fact that the EBU requires that a minimum of two thousand hotel beds are available within 15 minutes of the venue, just to cover the requirements of the national delegations. With the increasing popularity of the Eurovision Song Contest as a live event, the almost 20,000 hotel places available in the greater Helsinki area, made the city the natural choice to host the show.    

On June 21st 2006, YLE announced the winning bid and Helsinki's Hartwall Arena (left), the widely speculated favourite was confirmed as the venue for the 2007 contest. The venue, which is a ten minute tram ride north of Helsinki's city centre was completed in 1996, and while it is used by a local ice hockey team and previously staged the World Championships of that sport in 1997, the Hartwall Arena is not primarily a sports venue and has regularly staged live music concerts. This is the first time since 2000 that the Eurovision Song Contest will not be staged in an arena which was primarily build for sport. 

The building which is elliptically shaped is 153 meters long and 123 meters wide. It has hosted concerts by some of the world's most popular musical acts over the past decade, including Luciano Pavarotti, Elton John, Robbie Williams, David Bowie, and the touring company of Ireland's famous "Riverdance" show.

One of the reasons which played a part in the selection of the venue may well have been its close proximity to YLE's Helsinki HQ, which you can see on the left. From a technical viewpoint, this makes the organisation of the show a lot easier for the Finnish broadcaster.

YLE has also announced that it will be importing hardware in order to stage the Eurovision Song Contest and several YLE technicians have experience of the contest after providing support for the 2002 show in Tallinn. However the lighting will be done by Swedish company Spectra who were also in charge of lighting the contests for several years up to the Athens contest in 2006.

Another advantage which the Hartwall Arena had over other bids was its large capacity. The venue is the biggest indoor arena in Finland and in its normal concert configuration it holds 12,000 people over three levels and while the demands of television have reduced this slightly, it is still likely to be one of the biggest ever live audiences in Eurovision history, although lower than the 15,000 that attended the 2006 contest in Athens. 

You can see the concert configuration on the left. Click on the image for more detail. Tickets for the Eurovision Song Contest went on sale in December, and sold out within hours, although packages for the semi-final and rehearsals are still available. You can buy the tickets online here. 

As well as almost 1,400 parks spaces, the venue is very well served by Helsinki's efficient public transport system. The train from downtown Helsinki runs frequently and takes ten minutes to the Pasila station which is a short walk from the Hartwall Arena, two buses routes (23 and 69) and two trams (7A and 7B) also serve the venue. The good news for those with accreditation, is that all public transport is free for the duration of the Eurovision rehersals and shows. The venue has international has a wi-fi zone, making internet communication both wireless and easy and it also has catering facilities which are apparently far better than those which were available in the OAKA venue in Athens.

The not so good news for those going to Helsinki with accreditation is that the Press Centre will not be located within the Hartwall Arena. Instead, a special area is being installed in the nearby Helsinki Fair Centre. At the media centre, reporters and photographers will have access to a working area with computers and Internet connections. Work comfort will also be increased by a common room that will contain seating, a few big screens and several large TVs for following the contest and there is also a café.

Press conferences held during the Eurovision Song Contest will take place at the media centre in the Helsinki Far Centre (left). An agreement between the EBU and YLE specifies that such events must accommodate at least 500 people, but the facilities built at the fair centre will have room for 1,500. The press conferences held after the semi-final (May 10th) and the final (May 12th) will attract the biggest audiences. The media centre will be open between 2nd and 13th May. From 3rd May onwards, artists from the participating countries will be rehearsing at the Helsinki arena for six days. After each country’s rehearsal, the artists will hold a press conference at the media centre. Each country will have two personal press conferences during the contest. The media centre will also house information and customer service points for YLE, EBU and the City of Helsinki. The main accreditation centre will also be located there.