Kennedy Center Honors Relocates to Capital One Arena

The Kennedy Center Honors will take place on December 7, 2026, at Capital One Arena, a Kennedy Center spokesperson announced Friday, relocating the ceremony while the performing arts venue remains closed for renovations.

Capital One Arena is home to the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals. The Kennedy Center spokesperson said the recipients of this year's honors will be announced at a later date, ABC News reported.

CBS has broadcast the Kennedy Center Honors since 1978. The spokesperson said "the program's broadcast partner" would also be revealed later.

The annual ceremony appeared to be in jeopardy after news broke that the Kennedy Center would close for lengthy renovations — work tied to President Donald Trump's demand that the building legally be renamed in his honor. According to the report, Trump would be unlikely to cooperate with fundraising efforts and the supposedly urgent renovations without "appropriate recognition" of his role in the project.

Soon after taking office, Trump renamed the Kennedy Center the "Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts." The courts then enforced the removal of Trump's name from the building.

"Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it," U.S. District Judge Casey Cooper wrote in forcing the name to come down. "The Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board's unilateral say-so."

Since the ruling, the Kennedy Center's Trump-backed board has shuttered the venue for renovations that might not happen. A photo of Trump aboard Air Force One showed the president reading from a placard bearing the words "Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED." Asked whether he would demolish the venue with Congress's permission, Trump said: "We're going to see how it plays out in court."

The December 7 date at Capital One Arena keeps the honors on the calendar, but the venue's own future — and the legal fight over its name and renovation — remains unresolved.