Texas A&M Wants A Mall To House Its Esports Team

Texas A&M’s esports team recently revealed the school is negotiating with College Station to lease a new facility at Post Oak Mall. School President M. Katherine Banks said the college is looking to occupy a space that used to be a Macy’s department store.

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The location under negotiation is in Post Oak Mall.

This is a huge milestone for AME, and we could not have done it without every member's support, past and present! You are the reason we have made this dream a reality. Thank you for loving video games as much as we do.❤️ pic.twitter.com/oX8PztRpBw

— Texas A&M Esports (@TAMUEsports) November 16, 2022

“Texas A&M is excited to be working with the City of College Station on possibilities involving Esports, which is increasingly popular in Aggieland,” said Greg Hartman, the COO of TAMU, in an email sent to The Eagle. “No lease has been signed yet since Texas A&M just recently asked the city of College Station to draft a letter of intent for space at Post Oak Mall. This is just the first step of a long process. The letter of intent will outline the specifics of the proposed future lease.”

Founded in 1876, Texas A&M University is a public, land-grant research institute based in College Station, Texas. As of the Fall 2022 semester, over 74,000 students were enrolled at the school.

The Profit‘s Take:

I think this is genius. More dead retail spaces should be transformed into gaming centers. When I was living in Florida, I constantly had to pass by a shutdown Macy’s. Every time I went by it, I thought, “this is the perfect space for a gaming center of some kind.” U.S. colleges that build esports facilities get all the press. But, I think this move is smarter because it’s going to save the school a ton of money. It’s clever to be in malls. It’s also incredibly clever to be the vulture of dead retail spaces.

(All information was provided by KBTX-TV [1,2], The Eagle, and Wikipedia)