Only a few moments ago, the organizing Swedish broadcaster of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 has confirmed their host city for the annual event; Malmö has won the bid over Stockholm to host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013.
According to an article, published on the official website of Eurovision.tv, ‘ the decision about the host city was open till the very last minute’ and a very difficult one to make according to Martin Österdahl, who recently has been announced as the Executive Producer of the 2013 contest.
Explaining the reason behind their choice: “We chose Malmö because there is a very good infrastructure and we have good experience of holding Melodifestivalen [the Swedish national selection] and the Eurovision Song Contest there,” he explains. “The choice of Malmö is based on an 
overall assessment of the environment in which we think is best for the format of the Eurovision Song Contest, both in terms of TV shows and on the preparations.”
The three shows, will find their home at the Malmö Arena where international superstars like Britney Spears have performed on their world tour, and has hosted several sport competitions including 2011 World Men’s Handball Championship and 2011–12 Svenska Superligan finals. For Eurovision fans the arena is best known for its appearances and host location during one of the semi final heats of Melodifestivalen since 2009. The arena itself is in many ways similar to the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland where the Eurovision Song Contest was held in 200.
The mayor of Malmö is happy to see the contest return to his city and has announced to be ‘extremely proud and happy today’. Malmö has organized the contest once in 1992, after Carola won in Italy the year before. The city of Malmö is t he third largest city in Sweden and one of the largest ones in Scandinavia (664,000 people).
It was previously reported that the city of Malmö had undertaken action to receive an early response by SVT in regards to hosting the contest as freezing hotel rooms for the period, was having a negative impact on local business.
(Source: SVT/Eurovision.tv)
