Ben Houchen who is the mayor of Tees Valley, expresses disappointment after Darlington could not make it among the final top seven list as Eurovision’s host city.
He said that he was very upset about the fact that Darlington was not shortlisted. Ben also stated that the city already had plans as to how the arrangements would be made. It was a strong bid as per him, and this is why he is disappointed.
Firstly, a roof in the design of the Ukrainian flag would have been put on Darlington Arena. Then the stadium would be full of people expressing their love and support for the Ukrainian people, and there would be Ukraine flags all around, he added.
According to Ben, the idea of decorating the stadium was in alignment with the key factor, which is to show Eurovision as Ukrainian Eurovision. However, he believes it is okay to lose as winning and losing are part and parcel of life. He is happy that at least Darlington gave all its efforts.
He also mentioned that he was confident in his bid because each area of the arena was planned in a way that would promote Ukraine and show its strength to Ukraine.
Ben stated that he thinks Darlington was excluded from the list because they could not match one technical criterion, which was to have an enclosed event space. All the other arrangements were designed in compliance with the standards given by the EBU.
He believes that the other cities which made it to the top seven have hosted similar music or sports festivals before on a large scale, and this is why it acted in their favor.
Darlington is an underdog, and if given a chance as the host city, Eurovision would have been carried out fantastically. They have already hosted one big event in the past which was BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, and the event went amazing. So, he had high hopes that Darlington, too, would be on the list.
Anyways, now he is excited to see how well the chosen host city will plan for the event and how they will honor Ukraine and express their support to them.
Besides, Darlington, even the capital city of England, London, was not selected. The cities which made the list of top seven are – Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, and Sheffield.
Ben stated that now since Darlington is not selected, he is hoping that Newcastle will be selected as the host city for Eurovision.
