Liverpool to host MTV European Music Awards

Oct 31 2007 EXCLUSIVE by David Bartlett

LIVERPOOL will host next year’s prestigious MTV Europe Music Awards at the new Arena and Convention Centre (ACC Liverpool) during its showcase Capital of Culture year, liverpooldailypost.co.uk can reveal

MTV executives will announce today that the city has beat off competition from Manchester and Cardiff to host the event in November 2008.

The most glamorous and successful names in rock and pop will descend on the city in a deal that will give Liverpool global exposure with more than 24m viewers expected to tune in.

In December last year, the Liverpool Daily Post revealed the city was in the running to host the awards.

And today, city council leader Warren Bradley told liverpooldailypost.co.uk: “This speaks volumes to how far the city has gone in the past five ten years.

“Liverpool is back on the lips of everyone for all the right reasons, which is so powerful for the city.”

The announcement will be made today ahead of tommorrow’s award ceremony which is being held in Munich.

It is understood that Cllr Bradley will be in Munich with Kris Donaldson, marketing and commercial director of Liverpool Culture Company, and Bob Prattey, chief executive of ACC Liverpool, for the announcement ahead of tommorrow’s ceremony.

Although the host and performers are yet to be announced Liverpool can expect the top names to be involved next year.

The host city changes every year and so far, the United Kingdom has hosted the event twice – once in London and once in Edinburgh.

Over the years, presenters have included Robbie Williams, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera and the show is broadcast live on MTV Europe, MTV and most of the international MTV channels as well as online.

This year’s event which will be hosted by American rapper Snoop Dog with performances from Mika and the Foo Fighters.

Former Liverpool Jazz singer turned businessman, Tom Lang, last night said: “This is great news for the city and for the arena.

“It’s great to see a big musical event taking place outside London.

“This is a significant marker for Liverpool and fantastic for the city’s young musicians.”

The ACC Liverpool opens on Saturday, January 12 when Ringo Starr will take centre stage in Liverpool the Musical.

Hosting the MTV Europe Awards is a major coup for the city and will form one of the main show piece events of next year’s celebrations.

It is understood that the new arena and Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year tipped the balance in the city’s favour in a close run contest with other cities.

An economic study by independent consultants reported £8.9m worth of direct economic benefit for Scotland when Edinburgh hosted the awards three years ago. Hotel bookings alone were valued at £2.2m.

An economic and media impact study for Copenhagen, which hosted the event last year found that the event had generated publicity worth around £30m for the Danish city.

The awards were started in 1994 by MTV Europe as an alternative to the channel’s American awards.

No one from MTV was available for comment.