Eurovision 2023: UK will host Eurovision next year - here are the betting odds for it being held in Newcastle

It was officially announced that the UK would host the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

Since then there has been an explosion in the conversation surrounding which city will host the iconic show.

Earlier this month Newcastle City Council confirmed it was exploring its options for putting forward a potential bid to host the contest.

This would be the first time the contest has ever been held in the city.

So what are the betting odds on Newcastle being the city to host Eurovision 2023?

Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming event.

When is Eurovision 2023?

Eurovision will be held in May 2023. No specific dates have been confirmed as of yet.

When will the city hosting Eurovision 2023 be announced?

No official bids have been put in yet to host the event.

However, It’s reported that the announcement should be made in the next couple of months.

Who is hosting Eurovision 2023?

On Monday 25 July, it was announced that the UK would officially host the Eurovision song contest 2023.

The contest was last held in the UK in 1998, where Birmingham was the host city.

Traditionally the winner of the contest the previous year hosts the event. However, 2022 winners Ukraine confirmed it would be unable to host the contest due to their ongoing war with Russia.

The UK offered to host the event after coming second in the 2022 contest.

What have Newcastle officials said about the possibility?

Newcastle City Council released an official statement expressing a strong desire to bring the event to the city.

Speaking on behalf of the council, Cabinet member for a Resilient City, Cllr Alex Hay, said: “Newcastle is a welcoming, well-connected and ambitious city with a proven track record of staging world class events.

“Obviously it would be wonderful to host Eurovision and we believe that Newcastle would be a perfect host city.

“We are looking forward to hearing more about the bidding process and are already working with partners to explore the opportunity.”

Where in Newcastle could Eurovision be held?

Newcastle’s Utilita Arena has a seating capacity of over 11,000 people so would tick that box in the criteria and, importantly, currently has no events for sale in May 2023.

It is also accessible by road and public transport with plenty of space around it if needed.

What are the bookies odd that it will be held in Glasgow?

William Hill currently lists Glasgow as the city as the favourite to host with odds of 8/13.

Putting the city well ahead of second favourite London (10/3) and third-favourite Manchester.

Birmingham comes in at 7/1. Things started to widen pretty quickly after that with Liverpool (14/1), Cardiff (18/1) and Aberdeen (20/1).

Newcastle comes in below Aberdeen with odds off 22/1.

What is Eurovision?

The Eurovision Song Contest is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union that represents primarily European countries.

The first contest was held on 24 May in 1956, in which the world saw seven nations participate. Now over 40 countries participate in the contest.