The University of Texas at Austin’s new basketball arena and events center will be named Moody Center after a $130-million grant from the Moody Foundation.
The grant to support Texas Athletics is the single largest gift from a foundation in the university’s history and brings to more than $200 million the donations to UT-Austin from the Galveston-based foundation. Previously, the foundation contributed $50 million to support the Moody College of Communication and $20 million to reimagine and transform the exterior spaces at the Blanton Museum of Art. Overall, the foundation has contributed more than $260 million to institutions in the University of Texas System.
It is also among the largest gifts ever made to any university for a new arena. The Moody Center is expected to open in 2022.
The Moody Center will replace the 42-year-old Frank C. Erwin Jr. Center, which will make way for the future expansion of the Dell Medical School. The 10,000-seat arena will provide a state-of-the-art men’s and women’s Longhorn basketball fan experience and feature student seating surrounding the court. The new arena is designed to expand to 15,000 seats and will provide a world-class venue for touring concerts and shows.
Founded in 1942 by W.L. Moody Jr. and Libbie Shearn Moody, the Moody Foundation has made more than $1.7 billion in grants throughout Texas to organizations that have educated, healed, nurtured and inspired generations of Texans. It is the largest philanthropic foundation in the state.
