AUSTIN, Texas — Austin's Moody Center was recently named the highest-grossing venue in the world for arenas of its size by Billboard Magazine.
The venue has only been open seven months, first opening its doors in April.
Since then, the Moody Center has surpassed all other national and international venues in gross revenue generated by concert ticket sales. In the last seven months, the venue has had over 90 events, including dozens of sold-out concerts with huge stars like Harry Styles, Lizzo, Justin Bieber and Jack Harlow.
SZA, Janet Jackson, Blink-182 and Journey have also announced tour stops at the venue in 2023.
"Our goal as a programming team and as a building is to create a really robust and diverse slate of content for this building. This building sits on The University of Texas campus, but it really belongs to this community. So we want everybody to be able to come through these doors for concerts, sports, comedy, family events, monster trucks – we have UFC events in here, WWE. Just really diverse and robust and something for everyone," said Michael Owens, vice president of programming at the Moody Center.
In Billboard's Boxscore chart, the Moody Center topped the list of venues with an audience capacity of 10,001 to 15,000 people. The center officially opened in April with an estimated construction cost of $375 million.
According to Billboard, the venue has grossed more than $62 million and hosted nearly 400,000 people over 36 shows. To add to the venue's star-studded event list, the CMT Music Awards will be held for the first time in 20 years in Austin on April 2.
"This building was designed really with a focus on authenticity. We want fans in this building to know they're in Austin. You see a lot of local art, diverse artists with our murals. You see a lot of local food and beverage options. So when people come to this building, they feel like they're still in Austin and they grab a drink and it's something to eat and experience on the art and culture here. It's really reflective of this convenience. That was intentional," Owens said.
Other top-ranked venues on Billboard's list included the Ovo Hydro Arena in Glasgow at No. 2, the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas at No. 3 and the Dickies Arena in Dallas at No. 4.
Boomtown is KVUE's series covering the explosive growth in Central Texas. For more Boomtown stories, head to KVUE.com/Boomtown.