The home of the Ole Miss Esports team, the E. F. Yerby Conference Center, located on the corner of Grove Loop and University Avenue, is set to be torn down and replaced by the new Patterson School of Accountancy building, Jones Hall.
Construction for the accountancy building is set to start in June 2026, while esports is set to move to the Jackson Avenue Center sometime during the spring semester.
John McDermott, director of esports programs at the university, confirmed the move in a statement to The Daily Mississippian.
“Esports does have a space designed,” McDermott said. “We are going to be moving into the Jackson Avenue Center. If you know the layout of the Jackson Avenue Center, it is the old bookstore.”
McDermott noted that the transition to the new space has its benefits.
“There is great excitement about the move to this new building,” McDermott said. “The move will allow for a better allocation of resources, and in my mind will serve to better help not only the Ole Miss community, but the greater Northern Mississippi community. We are eager to tackle this new buildout, and hope to welcome everyone to the space shortly.”
McDermott also addressed the timing of the move.
“While everything is subject to change, I received the official memo giving me the ability to start doing things, getting keys and designs … in September,” McDermott said. “Obviously, the space hasn’t been used for some time, so it is going to take some redesigning and renovation, which is going to drastically affect the timeline. The hope is that groups start moving out of the Yerby over winter break, though they don’t want to start (demolishing) the building until after graduation at the earliest.”
Zach Taneri, a senior accountancy major and secretary of Ole Miss Esports is less certain of the benefits of moving to a new space and worries about the disruption the move will cause for the esports group.
“The plan to tear down the E. F. Yerby Conference Center has impacted our club by making us unable to plan our spring semester events, because we don’t know when during the spring semester we will be moving,” Taneri said. “So all we can do is plan how we will pack up all of our equipment and plan what we want our new space to look like and have.”
Taneri says there are some upsides to moving to JAC, like more parking spaces for esports members and new equipment.
“We will hopefully be getting some parking spaces specifically for our club members to use that will be included,” Taneri said. “It will also be a chance for us to move our equipment, redesign the space to better fit our needs, acquire some new seating and possibly new computers. And we’ve mostly been guaranteed that we will get a space the same size as our last space and possibly bigger, but that’s unconfirmed.”
Esports had been aware of the plan to tear down the conference center for years.
“We always knew (it) was an inevitable event since 2023, but learning that this is happening around May of this spring semester is an unfortunate timing for us,” Taneri said. “Mainly because we’ve become more active, just started tailgating on our porch and have established our club at that location. … But, we knew it was always going to be a temporary home, we just didn’t know, until recently, that we were moving.”
Jones Hall is scheduled to open in 2028. Planning for the new facility for the Patterson School of Accountancy began in 2018, according to UM Director of News and Media Relations Jacob Batte.
According to Mark Wilder, dean of the Patterson School of Accountancy, Jones Hall will help strengthen the accounting school.
“The new accounting building will be a tremendous resource for the Patterson School of Accountancy, enhancing our visibility on campus and helping us advance toward our goal of becoming the nation’s top accountancy program. In short, this facility will elevate our program to even greater heights of excellence,” Wilder said to The Daily Mississippian. “As the university continues to grow and thrive, the new building will also benefit the broader campus by freeing up valuable space in Conner Hall for other academic units.”
The Patterson School of Accountancy has big plans for its upcoming building to accommodate the growing enrollment. According to an online pamphlet from the university, the new building will cost more that $100 million, serving as an entrance to the university on the corner of Grove Loop and University Avenue. The construction is projected to take two years.
