Why Southern Miss' Lucrative Renasant Stadium Deal Is Bigger Than a Name Change

On Thursday, the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees approved a deal between the University of Southern Mississippi and Renasant Bank. That significance? It is a 10-year deal worth $13.7 million to rename Southern Miss' football stadium, M.M. Roberts Stadium, to Renasant Stadium.

This new deal will go into effect on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. Renasant Bank, based in Tupelo, Miss., operates banking institutions all across the South and sponsors the Renasant Convention Center in Memphis, which hosts events such as the AutoZone National Sales Meeting and the Memphis International Auto Show. Point being, they've got a lot of funding at their disposal.

Southern Miss' deal with Renasant Bank makes the Golden Eagles the first and only team with a football stadium named after a business in the State of Mississippi. Southern Miss also joins 37 other FBS programs with a football stadium named after a business/organization.

This deal is bigger than just a name change. It's the beginning of a new era for a stadium with a long history.

A Brief History of Southern Miss' Stadium

A football game in the early 1930s at Faulkner Field. | MageeNews.com

In 1932, Mississippi State Teachers College, as USM was known, built a 4,000-seat wooden grandstand, with free labor provided by a local businessman and vice president of the Mississippi Central Railroad, L.E. Faulkner. The stadium was then named "Faulkner Field."

In 1938, a permanent concrete stadium was built in the same location as the wooden stands, and football players who helped build the stadium noted that the stadium's design, as well as the working conditions, were similar to those at Alcatraz Prison, earning Faulkner Field the nickname "The Rock." The stadium's new capacity was 10,000 seats. Expanding the stadium also added more dormitories for students, which are still visible to this day.

At the close of the 1949 season, the stadium received a 5,000-seat upgrade, bumping the capacity to 15,000. Faulkner Field would hold 15,000 until the end of 1973, when Mississippi IHL Trustee and USM graduate M.M. Roberts secured $6 million for an even bigger upgrade. Between 1932 and 1973, Southern Miss held a 146-28-4 (82%) record at home.

The Birth of M.M. Roberts Stadium

The Rock as it rests after a day of football during the 2025 season. | Andy Baeuerle

Southern Miss' $6 million grant to build the stadium had taken a few years to acquire. In 1971, athletic director Reed Green worked to persuade the IHL to grant funds to build a new off-campus stadium near Classic Drive in Hattiesburg. This stadium was to be a 40,000-seat stadium, with funds ready to expand to 60,000 in 1996. This plan was shot down almost immediately. Instead, the IHL approved the $6 million to expand the on-campus stadium.

Construction proceeded throughout the 1974 and 1975 football seasons, leaving Southern Miss to play its home football games at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, Ladd-Peebles Stadium, and Biloxi Municipal Stadium. When the new stadium was completed in Hattiesburg, it had been built entirely on top of the old one, and boasted a capacity of 33,000.

USM's first game in the new stadium was a sold-out matchup against No. 17 Ole Miss, which the Golden Eagles lost 28-0. The name of the new stadium changed to honor the man responsible for securing the funds, as well as the original builder of the stadium, becoming Faulkner Field at M.M. Roberts Stadium.

In 2008, after many games with attendance over 33,000, the university approved funding to once again add to the stadium, adding 3,000 seats, including suites, to the south end zone. This bumped the stadium's capacity to 36,000. And since 1938, the stadium has been built upon itself, meaning the old dorms and press boxes are still visible after all this time.

A Few Facts About The Rock

Southern Miss Football back in The Rock for Scrimmage Number One of Fall Camp. | Josh House

Largest Crowd: 36,641 vs. Mississippi State (2015)

USM's All Time Home Record: 211-118-4 (63.4 %)

USM's Highest Ranked Home Win: 40-28 vs. #10 TCU (2003)

As mentioned above, this is more than just a stadium name change. Just like the hiring of Blake Anderson as the Golden Eagles' head coach in December of last year, this deal also marks the beginning of a new era: one that Southern Miss hopes will be successful.

Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more Southern Miss football updates throughout the weekend as the Golden Eagles finish up fall camp with Saturday's Fan Fest scrimmage.

Add us as a preferred source on Google