Aberdeen to host 2019 BBC Sports Personality of the Year event
Aberdeen will host the 2019 BBC Sports Personality of the Year event, the corporation has announced.
It is the first time the north-eastern Scottish city has hosted the prestigious event, which takes place this year on Sunday, December 15. It has only been held in Scotland once previously, in Glasgow five years ago.
Cricketer Ben Stokes is odds-on favourite to win the main prize after playing a key role in England’s World Cup success on home soil earlier this summer and also producing one of the great Ashes innings of all time to help his country win the third Test at Headingley.
The event was held at various London venues between 1954 and 2005, before moving to Birmingham for the next two years.
The midlands city has hosted the awards ceremony on three further occasions, including last year when Geraint Thomas won the public vote after his success in the Tour de France.
The other cities to have staged SPOTY are Liverpool (2008 and 2017), Sheffield (2009), Salford (2011), Leeds (2013) and Belfast (2015).
The BBC’s director of sport Barbara Slater said: “It’s been an extraordinary year of sport so far with many incredible moments and surely more to come. I have no doubt Aberdeen will be an excellent host city to help us celebrate them.”
Gary Lineker, Clare Balding and Gabby Logan are set to be the lead presenters at the P&J Live Arena, the BBC said.
The other names in the frame for the main Sports Personality prize this year include Stokes’ fellow World Cup hero Jofra Archer, Formula One world championship leader Lewis Hamilton, Manchester City and England footballer Raheem Sterling, England rugby union captain Owen Farrell and top jockey Frankie Dettori.
The other award categories are Greatest Sporting Moment, World Sport Star of the Year, the Helen Rollason Award, the Young Sports Personality of the Year, Unsung Hero, Coach of the Year, Team of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
