Moody Center Austin, Texas

JUMP TO: Customer  |  Challenge  |  Discovery  |  Solution  |  Results

Customer

Moody Center sits at the heart of The University of Texas at Austin campus, replacing the 45-year-old Frank C. Erwin Jr. Center as the new home of Texas Longhorns Women & Men’s Basketball teams. It also serves as the newest entertainment venue in the live music capital of the world, bringing a world class facility to an already-strong music scene.

The new $375 million, 15,000-seat arena not only hosts University of Texas Basketball games, graduations and university, community, high school, and other events for the Austin community, but is a major stop for the biggest names in live entertainment. At least 150+ days per year, Moody Center brings unique events to the area that range from live music to family and comedy shows. 

Challenge

Balancing the needs of a major entertainment venue with a basketball arena required not only a unique design, but also a unique and robust network infrastructure ensuring that fans could enjoy a seamless live event experience. Access and network speeds prove to be vital in a state-of-the-art venue to support everything from digital tickets and directional to connecting social media to purchasing concessions.

Bringing a spectacular arena to life—especially the most expensive college basketball arena in history—is no small feat.

In addition to emphasizing entertainment, the 530,000-square-foot Moody Center also wanted infrastructure that would help it prioritize safety. As a Sharecare Verified site, Moody Center adheres to more than 140 expert-validated standards across more than 600 checkpoints.

It relies on technology not only to comply with health and hygiene protocols and enhance health safety communication, but also to support air and water management and boost the fan experience

Discovery

Moody Center is the first of its kind in the industry, created through an unrivaled partnership between Oak View Group, Live Nation/C3 Presents, The University of Texas at Austin and Minister of Culture Matthew McConaughey.

Thanks to its work with the Climate Pledge Arena and UBS Arena projects—both Oak View Group projects—Belden already had a solid relationship with Oak View Group. Its systems are used in many of the company’s stadium projects across the United States

Solution

Everything that happens at Moody Center relieson connectivity, from the mobile-only ticketing to the concessions and Wi-Fi hotspots.

To support this level of connection, dual 10G backbones feed the venue, including public Wi-Fi and wired networks, along with 5G and 1G switches throughout the building are all supported by Belden systems.

“We used Belden cabling throughout the building, from the core to the end-user,” says Heath Adams, director of technology at Moody Center. “It’s used not only in the actual building network itself, but also for our patch cables. There are miles and miles of Belden systems running through the arena.”

Approximately 85,000 linear feet of Belden Digital Electricity™ Cables facilitate cost-effective power and data transmission to the distributed antenna system (DAS), which improves cellular coverage in and around the arena. The cables were designed in conjunction with VoltServer, the creator of Digital Electricity, to transmit power and data over long distances in a single cable run.

The arena’s broadcast control room, which services in-game, pre-game and post-game activities, is supported by Belden’s 12G-SDI Cables, which maximize 4K signal transmission distance on a single coax while minimizing weight and space utilization compared to dual- or quad-link configurations.

Fiber and Category 6A cables from Belden help Moody Center deploy the cashless, grab-and-go experiences and self-check-out concessions that fans expect.

REVConnect® Connectivity was also used to speed up system installation. Its reliable, easy and versatile termination utilizes a single method for all Category 5e, 6 and 6A terminations while significantly reducing rework. REVConnect also improves network uptime with strong, reliable insulation-piercing contacts.

Finally, Belden provided all the speaker and audio cables to ensure incredible experiences for sports and music lovers, while security, access control and building automation cabling from Belden support mission-critical applications in the new venue.

“You’ll find Belden in everything here, from AV production, including lighting and sound, to IT,” says Adams. “All our phones and computers are also connected using Belden cabling.”

Results

Moody Center is designed to bring people in—and have them stay. Fans enjoy immersive experiences from the moment they arrive at the interactive plaza until they get to their seat. From Dell Technologies Plaza to the porch suites, they can also stay connected to what’s happening inside the arena— as well as with the world beyond those walls.

High-performance infrastructure solutions from Belden make these experiences possible by ensuring consistency, reliability and uptime. By supporting multiple consultants, contractors and systems integrators throughout the project, Belden helped the arena make sure it could open its doors as planned on April 20, 2022.

For its attention to energy efficiency, Moody Center also achieved LEED Gold certification— and Belden is proud to provide cabling and connectivity to support many of the connected systems that allow the venue to save nearly 14% in energy compared to similar buildings.

“When we plug in a cable, we know it’s going to work,” explains Adams. “We don’t have to worry that we’ll ever have an issue. We know it will work flawlessly.”

Thanks to the technology and features incorporated into every aspect of the arena, Moody Center has been named Best New Concert Venue Worldwide by Pollstar Magazine and was recognized as the highest-grossing venue in the world for arenas of its size in 2022 by Billboard— even though it was open for only the second half of the year.