Moody Further Downgrades Metropolitan Opera’s Bond Credit Rating
By Francisco Salazar(Credit: Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera)
The Metropolitan Opera’s financial situation has taken another turn with its debt rating downgraded.
According to a report in Bloomberg, the company’s Moody’s Rating cut the Met Opera’s debt rating further into junk, lowering it to Caa1 from B3 with a negative outlook.
The downgrade was due to the organization’s “pronounced structural deficit” and to the company withdrawing a total of $120 million from its endowment since 2023. According to analysts, that has eroded its total cash and investments.
A Caa1 is a credit rating that indicates very high credit risk and poor standing, often referred to as “junk” or “speculative” grade. It indicates that an organization is in danger of defaulting, though it is not yet in default.
Ironically, the news comes weeks after the Met announced it was adding a performance of “Tristan und Isolde” due to high demand and saw an uptick in ticket sales in the first half of the 2025-26 season.
However, it also comes as the Met announced layoffs and salary cuts due to concerns of the future of a $ 200 million Saudi Arabia deal, under which the Saudis agreed to subsidize the Met in exchange for the company performing at the Royal Diriyah Opera House near Riyadh three weeks each winter.
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