“Finland’s Eurovision Chances Threatened by Russian Owners of Helsinki’s Largest Concert Hall”

We draw May 10, 2007, one year after Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest for Finland. Edsilia Rombley sings on stage On top of the world. After finishing fourth once before, expectations were high. But it ends in a sof. She doesn’t make it to the final. Two days later, the Serbian Marija Šerifović won the Eurovision Song Contest in the Hartwall Arena.

The same Hartwall Arena has been in big trouble since March 2022. Music fans have not been able to visit the concert hall that can accommodate more than 15,000 people for so long. Major performances were moved to Tampere, for example, almost two hundred kilometers away. The name Hartwall Arena also no longer exists, the beverage giant withdrew after 25 years of sponsorship and today the concert hall is called Helsinki Halli.

That has everything to do with the Russian owners Gennady Timchenko and Boris Rotenberg. The two oligarchs were put on the United Kingdom’s sanctions list shortly after the war in Ukraine began. A new owner has been sought for ages, but that is not easy. Due to the sanctions list, no business can be done with the two Russians close to Vladimir Putin.

Sanna Forsström, who is in charge of promoting the city of Helsinki and the events it organizes, is concerned. “This situation affects the competitiveness of Helsinki and Finland. We are now in a situation where certain events are avoiding Finland and not even coming to Tampere anymore.”

Read more under Edsilia Rombley’s performance at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki.

That will not apply to the Eurovision Song Contest, if Finland wins, Tampere seems to be an excellent alternative with a brand new arena completed in 2021. But the residents in Helsinki are seeing a major event pass them by. The ice hockey world championship, for example, also took place in Tampere, located further north.

But whether Finland should even think about organizing the Eurovision Song Contest is in the hands of Käärijä. On Tuesday evening he already set the rousing Cha cha cha the hall on fire and seems to be a crowd favorite. There is also a Dutch touch to the act, because dancer Jesse Wijnans is a Dutchman. Whether Käärjä and Wijnans also get enough votes from the professional jury to beat the Swedish Eurovision icon Loreen, we will not know until well after midnight on Saturday evening when the results are announced.

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