One Vols returning starter is likely out for the season

Tyler Whetstone | Knoxville

Maggie Jones, USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

Knoxville’s only e-sports venue is moving locations after being inside a mammoth space in Knoxville Center Mall for only a few months.

Escape Game Knoxville opened in the former 40,000-square-foot Gold’s Gym building inside the mall in December. Owner Dustin Wyrick had the walls lined with TVs meant for multiplayer video gaming. The business had space for laser tag and archery tag, a dodgeball-like game using a toy bow-and-arrow.

The business has closed — most everything was moved out earlier this month.

Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel

Wyrick will be opening a new e-sports venue — without the laser tag — at 815 South Central St., next to where Wyrick’s former company, Escape Game Knoxville, used to be and next to where KnoxAxe, the ax-throwing event center, will open.

The new business will be named Battlefield Knoxville E-Sports. He expects to open sometime in June. At some point, he said, he’d like to use his laser tag gear as a mobile unit that can be rented for events or find another home for it in Knoxville.

Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel

Patrick King, representative of mall owner Knoxville Partners LLC, could not immediately be reached for comment.