Venue 2007: Hartwell Areena

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Given that this will be Finland's first opportunity to host the event, after over forty years competing in the Eurovision Song Contest, the Helsinki venues started with an advantage, although a strong campaign by Turku included offering a suitable venue, free of charge.

On June 21st, YLE announced the winning bid and Helsinki's Hartwell Areena, the widely speculated favourite was confirmed as the venue for the 2007 contest.The venue, which is a ten minute tram ride north of Helsinki's city centre was completed in 1996, and while it is used by a local ice hockey team and staged the World Championships of that sport in 1997, the Hartwell Areena is not primarily a sports venue.

This is the first time since 2000 that the Eurovision Song Contest will not be staged in an arena which was primarily build for sport.The building which is elliptically shaped is 153 meters long and 123 meters wide.

It has hosted concerts by some of the world's most popular musical acts over the past decade, including Luciano Pavarotti, Elton John, Robbie Williams, David Bowie, and the touring company of Ireland's famous "Riverdance" show.

One of the reasons which played a part in the selection of the venue may well have been its close proximity to YLE's Helsinki HQ. From a technical viewpoint, this makes the organisation of the show a lot easier for the Finnish broadcaster.

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