We’re only a few days since JJ won the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, and already cities are thinking about hosting next year. Salzburg though has decided to rule itself out from the competition.
Salzburg doesn’t “have the capacity”
The mayor of Salzburg has ruled out the possibility of the city bidding to host next year’s contest. The mayor cited several significant obstacles preventing Austria’s fourth largest city from hosting. The most significant of which related to the Salzburg arena; which was believed to be impossible to become available for the six weeks needed to host Eurovision. There is also capacity issues regarding the arena. With a capacity of only 6,000 it would be just on the cusp of being able to host, not taking into consideration the reduced capacity from the monumental stages of contemporary Eurovisions.
Financing was a major factor, with the tens of millions of Euro budget of the contest being difficult to obtain, even if the city and state were to combine financial forces.
The Journey to Eurovision 2026
The journey to the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest kicked off immediately following JJ’s win in Basel, when Austria’s ORF accepted the rights to host the 70th edition of the contest. At present the Alpine nation has not addressed its plans for how it intends to host, but cities have already begun discussing their thoughts on hosting or not.
The cities that have ruled out hosting:
- Salzburg
Austria’s Eurovision Journey
In 1957, Austria made their debut into the Eurovision Song Contest, where Bob Martin represented the landlocked nation with the song “Wohin, kleines Pony?”. At the close of voting, it managed to place 10th overall. Since their debut, Austria has participated 56 times (being in the final 49 times), and – before 2025 – had won the competition on two occasions in 1966 and 2014.
In 2025, Austria selected JJ internally to represent the nation in Basel with “Wasted Love”. Austria successfully qualified for the final, and went on to win the Contest with a total of 436 points. This gave Austria its third win in the Contest, eleven years after their previous victory.
What do you think about Salzburg’s decision to forego bidding for Eurovision? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2026!
News Source: ORF
Photo Credit: Wikimedia / Eweht
Rory Gannon 
Michelle 