The music industry’s biggest night was supposed to take place at the end of January, at the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. Then the omicron variant happened.
Now, the big award show is set to take place on April 3, and in a new venue too — the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Representatives from the Recording Academy wouldn’t confirm the reasoning behind the location change, but it does look like the Crypto.com Arena’s calendar is full in the days leading up to April 3, not to mention both a Clippers and a Lakers game on the day of.
The move is not without its ripple effects, though, as it will be bumping the CMT Music Awards, which was scheduled for that same date.
The Grammys have been having a tough go of it recently. Last year’s ceremony tanked, with viewership dropping to 8.8 million. That’s a 53% drop from its 2020 numbers. The 2021 show was also the same ceremony that pop star The Weeknd vowed to boycott after being snubbed for any nominations, citing the anonymous committees that make up the initial ballots for voting as the main driver of his protests.
The Recording Academy has made some moves to increase equity to its roster of nominees — including doing away with those anonymous committees, as well as expanding the number of potential winners in the big categories.
Comedian and The Daily Show host Trevor Noah is still set to host the evening, which will be broadcast live as well as streamed on Paramount+.
