Nearly the best Eurovision Song Contest ever

Finland's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest this year did not do quite as well as expected, but Finland still came out a winner. Arrangements for the competition, which climaxed in Helsinki on Saturday evening, were considered first class.
      It was all smiles at a press conference on Sunday morning. Executive Producer Heikki Seppälä said that at the very least the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE got very close to its goal of arranging the best Eurovision Song Contest ever.
     
Sitting next to Seppälä, Bjørn Erichsen, the Danish Director of Television for the European Broadcasting Union, lavished praise on YLE: "Never have we seen as brilliant and professionally-organised competition, even though the Swedes have been critical."
      Event Manager Kjell Ekholm expressed feelings that were undoubtedly shared by many, saying that his mind was both empty and full of emotions at the same time.
      Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen said that there can be no happier mayor anywhere. "There were at least half a million people in Helsinki taking part in events during the Eurovision week. It was the biggest public event ever held in Helsinki."
     
"When we went to the Arena our budget was EUR 12.4 million, as it was supposed to be", Seppälä said. The EBU is covering about a quarter of the total costs.
      "In the sold-out final there were 10,000 people, and ticket sales looked good."
      YLE reckons that up to 2.1 million TV viewers in Finland watched the finals. The total number of viewers worldwide was estimated at 120 million.
      Work continued at the Arena after the show: the stage had to be set for the next event - the musical Mamma Mia - in just 36 hours.
     
Representatives of Serbia, the winner of the competition, said goodbye to Ekholm on Sunday. "They said that I have to come to Belgrade next week. I said not yet! I'll go there sometime in the summer."
      Ekholm will continue working in the EBU group, watching how Serbia manages with arrangements for next year's contest.
      Bjørn Erichsen said that he hopes that the event will bring some sunshine to Serbia, which is a relatively poor country, and which has a very sad recent history. "We will go there and help with the arrangements".
     
The success of Eastern Europe and the Balkan region has caused some grumbling in Western Europe. Bjørn Erichsen does not understand this, noting that there were no such complaints among the countries out east, who joined EBU in 1991, when the West happened to be doing well.
      Erichsen said that the countries of the former Yugoslavia should be congratulated if they love each other so much that they vote for each other.
      The well-arranged contest concluded on a slightly sour note when officials, taking a tough line on alcohol legislation, did not give permission for the official After Party to stay open beyond 4:00 in the morning.

More on this subject:
 Serbian ballad wins Eurovision Song Contest - Belgrade hosts in 2008
 Eastern European countries among surprise winners in Eurovision Song Contest semifinals

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Eurovision promotional merchandise floods Helsinki (11.5.2006)
  Eurovision semifinal Thursday night (10.5.2006)
  Eurovision Song Contest postcards are small stories (9.5.2007)
  Eurovision surge hits city today (8.6.2007)