The Nuptials Heard ‘Round The World: Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce MSG Wedding Puts Spotlight On ‘Privates’

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding, the nuptials heard round the world, went off July 3 at Madison Square Garden with wall-to-wall media “coverage.” This consisted mostly of speculation on such weighty topics as which A-listers made the guest list (no Blake Lively?!), the dress (Christian Dior couture!?), the color palette (soft peach and white!), the T&T monogram (isn’t that a Canadian Asian supermarket?), the performers (Stevie Nicks and Paul McCartney!) and the theme (“enchanted garden party”). One scantily covered aspect of this high-profile tying of the knot is the importance of private event rentals, which can and do provide important revenue streams for buildings and artists alike.

“I don’t think typical sports and music venues are considered as much as they should be as a unique location for privates,” says Sean Saadeh, Harris Blitzer Sports’ Chief Programming Officer and Head of Entertainment, where he and his team regularly book private events at Newark, New Jersey’s Prudential Center. “She helped bring that to light, which is interesting, but we’ve been doing this for a while. I’ve had weddings and bar mitzvahs, so it’s not unique to use an arena or even a theater or club for these types of things, but it’s just coming to light now.”

Saadeh mentions a variety of privates Prudential Center ha hosted, including a Tony Robbins event, the American Young Voices, graduations and even film and TV shoots, including one for Netflix’s upcoming “An Innocent Girl.”

With 2026’s uneven economy driven by continued inflation, mixed consumer confidence and a challenging job market, it’s become increasingly important for venues to fill their rooms on dark nights at every level of the venue business.

“We have, on average, about five rentals a month,” says Audrey Fix Schaefer, NIVA board president and head of communications for Washington, D.C.’s I.M.P., whose portfolio includes the 9:30 Club, The Anthem, The Atlantis, The Lincoln Theater and Merriweather Post Pavilion. “Almost all of our clients are non-profits or companies. We’ve had a couple of grand weddings, but that’s rare. These events bring valued revenue during our slow periods, and it allows us to engage with the community in a different way.  We’re also able to use this mixed-use venue to its fullest potential.”

While obtaining exact figures on how much privates contribute to venues with grosses and attendances unreported is difficult, it is an integral part of a venue’s revenue streams.

“It’s a decent-sized business here,” says Saadah of the privates at Prudential Center. “Just graduations alone are a decent bottom line for us, so we don’t take it lightly. The biggest challenge with private events is just finding an available date when you have multiple sports tenants like we do, plus the number of concerts that come through here and other sporting events, family shows and things like that. But we do a good job of juggling and finding spots where we can book and as a result it’s a decent sized business for us annually.”

For artists and their teams, privates help fill gaps in schedules and can be far less of a heavy lift compared with hard ticketed shows. The latter often necessitates marketing and promotion, ticketing partners, larger production, trucks, buses, bigger crews, accommodations, security, merch, insurance and more. Consequently, privates are big business and many artists welcome them.

“We book about 700 private events in a year,” says CAA’s Robert Norman, Agent, Private Events, who’s worked on privates for more than three decades. “It’s a busy business for us. We’re efficient in how we respond to anything that comes in quickly and accurately and book a lot of dates. From the most vintage artists to somebody’s backyard to the biggest tech conferences and everything in between. We touch every kind of music, comedian, magician, and everything that you can think of.”

Implicit in many privates is the thrill of exclusivity, having an entertainer perform without tickets for a limited audience with little to no public fanfare. In some cases, privates can be some of the most exclusive VIP experiences imaginable.

“The smallest one I’ve ever booked was for two people,” Norman says. “They rented out one of the most famous high-end restaurants in Paris, he flew in an artist and surprised his fiancé with this artist who came in, sang a few songs and then joined them for dinner. That’s the smallest I’ve seen.”

For many artists, Norman says, the payouts for privates can be larger than a single tour date, usually starting at six figures and upwards; but, the overall take may be equal when all revenue streams are considered.

“For a concert date you have the advantage of being on a routed tour with costs amortized over the course of the tour,” Norman says. “With a one-off private event date, you don’t have the ancillary income; you’re not going to sell T-shirts. So there’s a higher guarantee typically to doing a private event. In some cases, it’s just a one-off event. This artist is going to fly from L.A. to New York to play a private party. There’s a cost associated with that. They’re not on tour. It’s wonderful when you can find a Tuesday night, when somebody wants an event, and you happen to be on tour and routed, then I’d say you’re probably in a similar space to what you might make. But mostly, you’re paying a premium for a one-off specialty date that has no ancillary bump to it.”

When asked if it’s preferable for a venue to have privates over hard-ticketed shows, Prudential Center’s Saadah says not necessarily so.

“I wouldn’t say doing a private event is better than doing a non-private event or vice versa,” he says, “It’s just different. That’s what’s great about the business that we’re in because we get to work with lots of different people, do different types of events and it makes it interesting. One day we’re talking to an athletic director about a college basketball game; the next thing we’re talking to Netflix about wanting to do a movie.”

And then other times you’re talking about an “enchanted garden party” décor.