The home to Texas Basketball and Austin’s biggest venue, the Moody Center has taken home 19+ accolades since it opened in 2022, including the Academy of Country Music’s 2025 Arena of the Year and Pollstar’s 2024 Arena of the Year.
With more than 140 ticketed events in 2025, the Moody Center grossed $89.8 million and entertained 854,000+ visitors. The Moody Center was one of three US arenas and two Texas venues in the top 10.
Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena took the No. 4 slot with $74.3 million on the same list. Dallas’s American Airlines Center, and Houston’s NRG Stadium + Toyota Center also appeared on other portions of the Billboard rankings.
$22 million. That’s how much the city of Austin approved for a contract to build sidewalks + mobility improvements along Burnet Road near Q2 Stadium. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2026. (KXAN)
Biz
De Nada Cantina, known for its famously strong frozen margaritas, will take over the south Austin location of Mexican restaurant El Mercado, which was slated to close on Wednesday, Dec. 17, after 40 years in business. It will transform into De Nada Taco next year, but Burnet Road’s El Mercado will remain open. (Austin American-Statesman)
Open
Pickleball-centered bar Bouldin Acres opened its third location in far south Austin earlier this month. Located in the former Lustre Pearl South site on Menchaca Road, the new space has two bars, outdoor pickleball and shuffleboard courts, an indoor pool table, and arcade games. (CultureMap)
Trending
There’s never a dull moment in Jason Lespron’s kindergarten classroom at Govalle Elementary, where the Austinite went viral on TikTok for turning the learning into an interactive techno rave.
Legacy
Former Austin Mayor Frank Cooksey died early yesterday morning at the age of 92. Cooksey was mayor from 1985 to 1988, student body president at UT Austin during the 1950s, and a longtime fan of Barton Springs Pool. (Austin American-Statesman)
Seasonal
Austin shines a little bit brighter in December — NASA satellite imagery shows that you can see the I-35 corridor glow more due to holiday lights from space. Check out the suburbs.(Austin American-Statesman)
Travel
No store does more.H-E-B surprised travelers at the Austin airport last week with a vending machine pop-up offering free swag like tortilla blankets and coffee. If you’re flying within Texas, the pop-up will be at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport today, Dallas Fort Worth Airport tomorrow, and Dallas Love Field Airport on Friday, Dec. 19. (CultureMap)
Ranked
The Austin metro area is the top hotspot for affluent millennials, according to a study from Trust & Will. Around 25.8% of the population is comprised by millennials in Austin, which boasts the No. 1 GDP growth and No. 2 highest prime‑age employment in the study.
Sports
The Longhorns are going through changes as players like DeAndre Moore, Jelani McDonald, and Hero Kanu consider leaving and Michael Taaffe declares for the NFL draft. Get the biggest stories every day from the local experts of the Texas Longhorns with Locked On’s daily podcasts.
Holiday
Celebrate the holidays, Texas-style, at Renaissance Austin Hotel. Explore festive décor, enjoy Sunday Brunches with Santa, listen to live music and caroling on Fridays, sip through the 12 Days of Holiday cocktails, and give back with Wreaths of Giving and toy donations for Texas Children’s Hospital.*
Staying behind on tech trends can be a career killer. The Code is a twice weekly newsletter with curated tech news, practical resources, and insights decoded. Join 100,000+ engineers who read The Code to stay ahead of the curve.*
In case you missed it, Time Magazine’s 2025 Person of the Year is a whole group of people, the architects of AI, and two Austin residents made the cover.
While you may spot Elon Musk right away, on his left is AMD CEO Lisa Su, who was also named Time’s CEO of the Year in 2024. A billionaire with a distant relation to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Su works out of AMD’s Austin office but has also worked at fellow tech companies Texas Instruments, IBM, and Freescale.
Add some fun and laughter to holiday gatherings with a few of our favorite card and board games. We love these five:
🎲 Put your drawing skills to the test in Telestrations — perfect for 4-8 players.
🎲 The award-winning game Flip 7 is self proclaimed “the greatest card game of all time.”
🎲 Shut the Box is an easy-to-play dice game for up to six players.
🎲 Perfect for parties, Ransom Notes will have your entire crew belly laughing.
🎲 Connect words with colors in an engaging game of Hues and Cues.
If one of your loved ones asked for a more experiential gift this year, a local class is a great way to meet their wishes. I took a CocuSocial cooking class last year, and I can confirm it improved my skills.
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