Wake Forest Athletics this week announced a new student fan zone experience for select basketball games at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum during the 2023-24 season. The fan zone is made possible through a partnership between Wake Forest University students and campus leadership and through a leadership gift by Mit Shah ('91).
This space will be exclusively available to Wake Forest University students, with no individual or group reservation required to attend. The fan zone area will be set up at the northeast corner entrance/patio area of LJVM Coliseum.
According to a statement from the school, the fan zone will feature live music, a video wall, and a variety of seating and eating areas. Students will also be given free food and non-alcoholic beverage options. Students will need their Screamin' Demon Rewards app and their Wake Forest Deacon OneCard to enter. Student tickets through SDR will be scanned upon entry. All individuals age 21 and older must present an acceptable form of ID (e.g., valid driver's license, military ID, NC state ID, or passport) in order to consume alcohol in the student fan zone area.
"Our students are the heart and soul of our fanbase and moving them down to the court and creating this pregame student fan zone are tangible investments in our students," associate athletic director Corey Raymond said. "These features are being implemented as a result of recommendations from our Athletics Student Leadership Council. With that, our Screamin' Demons have responded to these enhancements as our student attendance has increased 87 percent compared to this time last year through the first portion of the home schedule."
Wake Forest men's basketball is 41-5 inside LJVM Coliseum since the start of the 2021-22 season, and the team is 27-0 in LJVM against non-conference opponents dating back to December 2018.
"This is just the latest innovative opportunity to help bring Value to Wake Forest and our student body as their energy drives the incredible atmosphere inside Joel Coliseum on a nightly basis for our Demon Deacons basketball team," said director of athletics John Currie. "We are extremely grateful to Mit Shah for his leadership to help fund this new initiative and our campus partners led by VP for Campus Life Dr. Shea Kidd Brown and Executive Director of Student Engagement Tim Wilkinson who are coordinating the logistics with our Fan Experience staff to elevate the fun prior to tipoff for the aforementioned six home games, beginning with both our men's and women's contests this weekend."
