The Events Calendar - Get the next upcoming Featured Event

functions.php

<?php

/**
 * The Events Calendar - Get the next upcoming Featured Event
 *
 * Notes:
 * 1) Ignores all-day events.
 * 2) For the date comparison, this code assumes each event is in
 * the same timezone as your WordPress General Settings timezone.
 *
 * @link https://gist.github.com/cliffordp/1b8c808efa4256ebcef2d8805f069595
 * @link https://theeventscalendar.com/support/forums/topic/pull-in-latest-featured-event/
 * @link https://make.wordpress.org/core/2014/08/29/a-more-powerful-order-by-in-wordpress-4-0/
 * @link https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/using-tribe_get_events/
 */
$args = array(
	'eventDisplay'   => 'custom',
	'posts_per_page' => 1,
	'meta_query'     => array(
		'relation'   => 'AND',
		'featured'   => array(
			'key'     => Tribe__Events__Featured_Events::FEATURED_EVENT_KEY,
			'compare' => 'EXISTS',
		),
		'start_date' => array(
			'key'     => '_EventStartDate',
			'value'   => current_time( 'mysql' ),
			'compare' => '>=',
			'type'    => 'DATETIME',
		),
	),
	'orderby'        => array(
		'start_date' => 'ASC',
	),

);

$events = tribe_get_events( $args );