Ticketmaster Kennedy Center deal: Grenell conflict of interest row

The Kennedy Center, Washington’s national arts centre, plans to move its ticket sales to Ticketmaster, NPR reported on Thursday, 12 November. The story made “Ticketmaster” one of the biggest searches in the United States because of who was in charge while the deal was being worked out.

The conflict of interest question

According to NPR, Richard Grenell, then president of the Kennedy Center, was also a paid board member of Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, while the switch was being negotiated. The Kennedy Center’s tax filings show he was paid nothing as its president. Grenell, a close ally of President Trump, was put in charge of the centre after Trump took it over in 2025.

Richard Briffault, an ethics professor at Columbia Law School, told NPR this was a clear conflict of interest. Grenell did not respond to NPR, and the Kennedy Center declined to comment on his two roles.

What the two sides say

Kennedy Center spokesperson PJ Elliott said the centre started looking at Ticketmaster in spring 2024, before Grenell arrived, because it had outgrown its old system (Tessitura, a nonprofit ticketing platform used by many arts venues) and that the decision went through normal procurement checks. Ticketmaster denied that anyone pushed the centre to pick it.

Two insiders, one current and one former employee, gave NPR a different account. They also said a deal like this would normally be signed off by the president, but is now being handled by the artistic director.

Why Ticketmaster is touchy

Live Nation controls about 80% of primary concert ticket sales in the US, NPR noted. In April, a jury found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had operated as a monopoly that harmed fans and overcharged them. Anyone who has queued for a Taylor Swift or Coldplay ticket online knows why that verdict was popular.

The Kennedy Center has had a rough year since the takeover, with reports of falling ticket sales and artists cancelling shows. The question now is whether members of Congress ask for the contract details before the switch happens.