Following the cancellation, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) began discussions of potential carryovers for the 2021 contest, such as the host city and participating artists, with various parties.

In place of the cancelled contest, the EBU and its Dutch members NPO, NOS and AVROTROS organised a replacement show, Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, to showcase the selected entries on 16 May, the day of the planned final.

[11] When Laurence won the contest, mayors of various municipalities immediately began lobbying Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, through text messages.

[12] Public figures, including Laurence, Esther Hart, Getty Kaspers and André Rieu, voiced their support for their respective favourite host cities.

[15] Nine cities—Amsterdam, Arnhem, Breda, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Hague, Leeuwarden, Maastricht, Rotterdam, and Utrecht—did so and received a list of criteria they and their venues needed to meet on 12 June 2019.

[15] Initially, Zwolle had also considered launching a bid to host the event but the city ultimately decided against doing so because it deemed its venue, the IJsselhallen, to have unsuitable proportions.

[23] The hosting broadcasters reviewed the bids presented and on 16 July 2019 announced that it eliminated those for Arnhem, 's-Hertogenbosch and Utrecht, shortlisting only Maastricht and Rotterdam.

[24] Utrecht was specifically eliminated because its proposal to span a tent over its Jaarbeurs offered limited possibilities for testing on location and had a questionable suitability for events like the Eurovision Song Contest,[25] while 's-Hertogenbosch was dropped due to an insufficient ceiling height in its Brabanthallen and too few hotel rooms blocked for potential visitors of the contest.

[26] To review and discuss the location, venue and surrounding events for the remaining bids, NPO visited Maastricht on 17 July 2019 and Rotterdam on the following day.

[37] The "Golden Carpet" and Opening Ceremony events, where the contestants and their delegations present themselves in front of the accredited press and fans, would have taken place at the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal on 10 May 2020.

[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61] An inside source attributed Hungary's non-participation to a rise of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in the country;[62] however, this was denied by the Hungarian broadcaster MTVA.

[64][65][66][67][68][69] Calls on Luxembourg to return to the contest after its continued non-participation since 1993 (including from Anne-Marie David, 1973 winner for the country), resulted in a fan-led petition directed to the broadcaster RTL and the Chamber of Deputies,[70] and in a second petition opened by the Chamber of Deputies itself;[71] however, RTL also ruled out participation in the 2020 contest prior to the official announcement by the EBU.

[76] Liechtensteiner broadcaster 1 FL TV, despite previous attempts to become an EBU member, halted its plans after director Peter Kölbel's unexpected death, and did not resume them due to the lack of sufficient funds and of government support; thus it ruled out debuting in 2020.

[85][86] Beauty vlogger Nikkie de Jager (NikkieTutorials) would have been the presenter of the contest's online content, including a behind-the-scenes YouTube series to be recorded with the participating artists.

The final would have been opened with the traditional flag parade, introducing all twenty-six finalists, accompanied by music produced by 15-year-old DJ Pieter Gabriel.

[97] The thirty-five semi-finalists were divided over five pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame.

In January–February 2020, the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (known simply as COVID-19) from Wuhan, China, to other countries around the world raised concerns and the potential impact over staging the Eurovision Song Contest.

[123] On 6 March, the Dutch broadcaster NPO stated: "Eurovision organisers would follow the advice of health authorities in deciding what form the event, due to be held on 12–16 May, would take.

[125] Representatives from Sweden, Finland, Israel, Switzerland, Italy and Greece attended the Heads of Delegation meeting on 9 March remotely.

[126] The contest's executive supervisor Jon Ola Sand also attended the meeting remotely, due to travel restrictions being placed on EBU staff until 13 March after an employee contracted the virus.

Finally, a remote show was also off the table because it would have undermined the tradition and the spirit of the event, in which all contestants have an equal opportunity by performing on the same stage.

[5] The Ahoy Arena itself, with most events and gatherings in the Netherlands prohibited until at least 1 September 2020,[141][142] served as a temporary care facility to cover the nationwide shortage of hospital beds.

[145] The EBU and the host broadcasters worked on a replacement show, Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, after the contest's cancellation.

From Hilversum's Studio 21, the show was broadcast live on 16 May 2020, the date the contest's final was planned to take place, with Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit and Edsilia Rombley serving as hosts.

[147] The EBU announced on 30 April 2020 that Eurovision Song Celebration 2020 would be released as a replacement for the semi-finals on the contest's official YouTube channel.

Every Saturday at 21:00 CEST, the Eurovision YouTube channel would re-broadcast a final of a previous contest, revealed by the EurovisionAgain team 15 minutes before the start.

The season ended with a special edition where the 26 most popular songs that did not qualify for the final, one from each country, as chosen via the official Eurovision social media handles, were streamed and put to a fan-vote.

Hosted by Graham Norton on 16 May 2020 and broadcast live on BBC One, an online vote determined the UK public's most popular Eurovision entry in its 64-year history, from a selection of 19 previous competing songs.

The ranking of all Slovenian Eurovision entries (excluding the songs that represented Yugoslavia), decided by over 30,000 online votes, was revealed on the show.

OGAE, an organisation of over forty Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, conducts an annual voting poll.