THE NETHERLANDS – The 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. A spokesperson for Minister Slob confirmed the information to 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 the music festival will be around 30 million Euros. Part of this will be funded by a contribution from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), sponsorship and the sale of tickets. But this amount is not estimated to be sufficient to finance the entire event.
NPO boss Shula Rijxman said in August, after announcing Rotterdam as a host city for the song festival, that she hoped that politicians would want to contribute 15 to 20 million euros to the organization. For the time being, the House of Representatives saw little in 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 is already financing the song festival. The city has reserved an amount of 15.5 million euros, which relates to the so-called side events and visibility of the music spectacle throughout the city.
