CMT Music Awards will be held at Austin's Moody Center in April 2023

After 21 years in Nashville, the CMT Music Awards are moving to Austin next year. The show, which airs live on CBS, is set for April 2 at the Moody Center, with country star Kelsea Ballerini returning as host for the third year and a lineup of performers including Carrie Underwood.

The announcement was made Wednesday evening at the Moody Center a half-hour into Underwood's concert on her current "Denim & Rhinestones" tour. Ballerini, a surprise guest, came onstage at 9:15 p.m. and presented Underwood with a boxing-championship-style belt of denim and rhinestones.

She explained it was to commemorate Underwood's 25 CMT Awards since the ceremony launched in 2002, more than any other artist. Then she announced that the awards show would be in Austin next year, eliciting a huge roar from the capacity crowd. "We hear everything's bigger in Texas," she added. "We're ready, y'all!"

Among those on hand for the announcement was Tim Lieweke, CEO of Moody Center developer Oak View Group. Lieweke said the effort to move the CMT Awards to Austin began well before the venue opened in April 2022, replacing the Erwin Center as Austin's largest indoor venue for concerts as well as University of Texas basketball games.

Related:Here's what you need to know about UT's new Moody Center in Austin

"It was probably three years since we planted the seed, and two years since we started working on the deal," Lieweke said. "We wanted to get a big awards show here that could put Austin on the map and also drive hotel nights."

"This event will have not only a huge financial impact on Austin and its tourism industry, but it will also showcase two of the top music brands globally, Austin as The Live Music Capital of the World and Country Music Television," said Tom Noonan, president of the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau.

It's the second major mainstream country music event to set up shop in Austin. Radio conglomerate iHeartMedia introduced its annual iHeartCountry Festival in 2014 at the Erwin Center. That concert moved to the Moody Center in 2022.

More festivals:Georgetown's new Two Step Inn will feature Tyler Childers, Zach Bryan, more

Cable TV channel CMT, also known as Country Music Television, was launched in 1983. Both CMT and CBS are owned by the media and entertainment conglomerate Paramount Global.

Ticket prices and when they will go on sale, along with more lineup details, will be announced later.

Both Lieweke and Moody Center General Manager Jeff Nickler said that they considered some similar possibilities before settling on the CMT deal. Nickler noted that another awards show, which he did not name, wanted to book the Moody Center, but that the venue team felt CMT was the best option on the table for this first foray into awards shows.

Addressing the show's relocation from the hub of country music, Lieweke said that "Nashville is awesome, but they're going to learn this is an amazing city, and everybody's going to have a great time. Once we can prove that, then we can go out and start seeing what else we want to get."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: CMT Awards moving to Austin in 2023; lineup includes Carrie Underwood