Denmark Hosts Eurovision in a 38,000-Seat Football Stadium

MAY 15 2001 · 12:10

DR / Parken Stadium · "N/A" · Denmark · 2001 Language: N/A · Venue: Parken Stadium · Host: Copenhagen, Denmark · Type: deep cut · Broadcast: digital hd Denmark, fresh off the Olsen Brothers' 2000 win, decides to host Eurovision at Parken, Copenhagen's FC København football stadium, open to the sky, capacity 38,000. It is the largest audience in Eurovision history. Open-air Eurovision introduces weather risk; fortunately the 12 May 2001 evening is cold but dry. Tanel Padar & Dave Benton win for Estonia with 'Everybody'. Context DR's decision to use Parken was a calculated gamble, open-air production had never been attempted at Eurovision. Infrastructure included enormous sound systems, weather-contingency staging, and multi-camera helicopter coverage. Danish state tourism reportedly spent millions promoting Copenhagen around the event. Legacy The 2001 Parken Eurovision remains the only stadium-sized Eurovision in the contest's history. Subsequent contests have always returned to indoor arenas. The Parken year is now frequently cited in Eurovision production-history discussions as the high-water mark of pure-audience-scale hosting. Estonia's win made the Baltic states' 2001-2003 Eurovision dominance explicit.