Editorial: The LeBron James of Eurovision

This summer, Australia’s Sia is enjoying a big hit with her song “Cheap Thrills”, a duet with Jamaican rapper Sean Paul. The song was originally recorded in a solo-version that, without the outro, lasted no longer than three minutes.

That version was released in December 2015, right at the start of preselection season, and the duet-version with Sean Paul was released two months later, a few weeks before the release of “Sound of Silence”. It is not hard to imagine “Cheap Thrills” being mentioned at some point during SBS’ discussions of selecting the Australian representative.

Perhaps Sia was even offered the job at some point – but she chose to team up with Sean Paul to conquer the American market instead. And after “Cheap Thrills” became her first ever nr.1 hit in the United States, it is hard to blame her for that decision. The song also sold over 600.000 copies in the UK, giving it platinum status there, as well as in Belgium and Denmark.

Still I would have loved to see a big star like Sia perform at Eurovision. Of course Dami Im did an amazing job representing Australia in Stockholm, and with the likes of Mans Zelmerlöw, Guy Sebastian and Sergey Lazarev we cannot complain about a lack of big names in Eurovision recently. At the same time it is difficult to see the United Kingdom come up with names from the second or even third line, while for example Adele and Coldplay are not even considered realistic at all. Much like Sia, these artists have options much more lucrative than competing in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Is this a Eurovision-specific problem? Not at all. Other big sports also struggle to bring together all the big stars into one competition. The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer had to deal with the absence of for example LeBron James & Stephen Curry (basketball), Jordan Spieth & Rory McIlroy (golf), and Tomas Berdych & Milos Raonic (tennis). They all passed on the opportunity to win a prestigious Olympic title, because they had other priorities.

The football transfer market is perhaps an even better example. Sporting ambitions are not every player’s first incentive to switch clubs. The most prestigious trophies can be won in Europe, but unless a player is desired by Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern München, there is always a club in Qatar that can offer a higher paycheck. Some can resist the temptation; others choose money over glory. Take for example Graziano Pellè who, after a succesful European Championships, could sign for Chelsea but chose a lucrative offer in China instead.

Nba, LeBron frana sul pubblico e manda una tifosa in ospedale, VIDEOIn a desperate attempt to keep all the big stars in one supercompetition, the UEFA now plans to renew the format of the Champions League and give the four biggest countries (Germany, Spain, England and Italy) extra tickets. The total number of participants remains the same, which means less and less teams from other countries will be able to take part. The new format will therefore lower the level of internationality and probably make the Champions League even more predictable than it already is.

With the new regulations, UEFA is taking a step quite similar to the BIG-5 rule in the Eurovision Song Contest. Although I understand the struggle for organizations to keep their competitions interesting for the big stars, I still hope the EBU will not continue down that road, by handing more and more opportunities to a select group of richer countries. If Coldplay ever comes to Eurovision, I will cry out of happiness, but it cannot be done at the expense of countries such as Moldova and Czech Republic.

IOC did not change the Olympic format for LeBron James and Rory McIlroy, and the beauty of this heartwarming international flag waving event was not compromised by their absence.


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