Glasgow is officially topping the odds to host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023 according to betting sites.
Bookies predict that Glasgow will beat London in the bid, which is sitting at second place, with the odds of Scotland’s largest city hosting the event at 8/13 on William Hill and 1.92 on Smarkets.
Aberdeen is also placing relatively high in the odds as it sits at a joint seventh place alongside Belfast with the odds of either of them hosting at 20/1 on William Hill.
The news that a city within the UK would be likely to host Eurovision came to fruition on June 17 when the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that Ukraine, the winners of last year’s Eurovision, was unsafe to host the competition.
In their statement, the EBU announced that they were in talks with the BBC regarding the UK, who came second in the competition this year with the song Space Man, hosting the contest.
Before the EBU made their official statement, speculation surrounding Glasgow hosting Eurovision was sparked when people noticed that very few acts were booked to play the usually busy Hydro in May 2023, when Eurovision would be taking place.
The central location of the city, its status as the largest city in Scotland, and the Hydro’s capacity of 12,000 people are large contributors to Glasgow’s high placement in the odds.
On the other end of the central belt, Edinburgh is at the same odds as Nottingham and Brighton at 40/1 and sits in joint tenth place on William Hill.
While the UK has hosted Eurovision eight times, the contest has only been held in Scotland once in 1972 in Edinburgh.
Many people have voiced their support for Glasgow’s bid to host the contest, including Nicola Sturgeon who tweeted that she thinks the Hydro would be the “perfect” place to hold the event.
We wish @Eurovision could be in Ukraine but understand that in circumstances this isn’t possible. However, I can think of a perfect venue on banks of the River Clyde!! @scotgov is happy to discuss with BBC, @GlasgowCC @EBU_HQ and others https://t.co/74YzxlWgWh
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 17, 2022
However, Boris Johnson is less keen for the country to host it, saying that Ukraine is “going to be fine by the time the Eurovision Song Contest comes around”.
Despite Johnson’s comments and pleas by the Ukrainian winners Kalush Orchestra and the Ukrainian Mister of Culture to have the EBU rethink their report, the broadcasters have not overturned their decision to have the competition held outside of Ukraine.
