Austin's Moody Center to host major esports competition with $1.25M prize pool

Austin's Moody Center is set to host a worldwide, "major" esports competition next summer, organizers announced in a press release Friday.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin's Moody Center is set to host a worldwide, major esports competition next summer, organizers announced in a press release Friday.

The "world’s best" Counter-Strike teams & players will compete at Moody Center for a $1.25 million prize pool at the BLAST.tv Austin Major in June 2025, the release said. Counter-Strike is a multiplayer, first-person shooter game played across the world.

This will be Austin's first "arena-based esports competition" and the first Counter-Strike Major in the U.S. or North America in seven years, the release said.

The competition is expected to bring in $40 million in economic impact for Austin with 50,000 fans likely to attend, organizers said. Additionally, the competition will be watched by millions of fans in over 150 territories and broadcasted in 28 languages.

“Austin is the perfect place to showcase the esports industry and the technology at the heart of the competition,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said in the release.

UT opens esports arena

In October 2023, the University of Texas-Austin jumped into the esports competitive world with the launch of an esports arena on campus.

The 3,400-square-foot interactive space offers wall-to-wall gaming equipment with 43 gaming stations for students. There’s an additional area for people to watch students game.