Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum
In an unusual partnership between two competitive venues, Wake Forest University has contracted with the Greensboro Coliseum Complex to book and manage external events at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (LJVM) and other university athletic venues.
The five-year agreement, which is effective immediately, allows the Greensboro Coliseum Complex to handle booking, ticketing and marketing services for all non-Wake Forest University athletic events at LJVM. Wake Forest purchased the Joel Coliseum from the City of Winston-Salem last May.
“The Greensboro Coliseum has had a lot of success with promoters and bringing in events,” said Wake Forest University director of athletics Ron Wellman. “We have had good relations with their management, been over there for basketball games and there are a number of Wake Forest alums who are part of the Coliseum’s staff. We started talking and thought there may be some synergy we could use.”
The agreement also allows the potential for the Greensboro Coliseum Complex to book nonathletic events at other Wake Forest facilities, such as BB&T Field, Wake Forest Baseball Park and eventually the Wake Forest Tennis Complex after its permanent stands are constructed.
As part of the agreement, the Greensboro Coliseum Complex will be paid $115,000 a year, not including incentives that are anticipated to total $10,000.
According to Matt Brown, managing director of the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, the agreement was initially proposed by Carl Hirsh, managing partner of Stafford Sports LLC, a Medford, N.J.-based advisory firm for the development, planning and operations of sports and entertainment facilities and properties, which is a consultant for Wake Forest University.
“Carl Hirsh, who I worked for at SMG, suggested the university hire the Greensboro Coliseum to manage LJVM about two years ago,” Brown said. “This is what led to us working out this agreement.”
It is unusual for two competing venues to sign an agreement of this type.
“The only comparable situation is when Ohio State University took over the day-to-day operations and nonathletic-event bookings at Columbus, Ohio’s Nationwide Arena at the city’s request,” Brown said.
The NCAA tournament at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in 2007.
Wake Forest basketball has called the LJVMC home for more than two decades. The arena, which is named after Winston-Salem’s only veteran to have received the Congressional Medal of Honor, seats 14,665 fans and has hosted four NCAA Tournament events in 1993, 1997, 2000 and 2007. The venue hosts concerts, family shows, conventions and other events throughout the year.
The Greensboro Coliseum has hosted several of Wake Forest University’s in- and post-season basketball games.
“Ron was familiar with how we put on tournaments, and we’ve had a long and positive relationship with Wake Forest and its staff,” said Brown. “It was a great match and natural affinity to work together.”
The partnership also provides an opportunity to create a niche for the Greensboro Coliseum’s Piedmont Triad marketplace, which includes the areas surrounding Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point, to solicit concerts for BB&T Field. The 31,000-plus seat stadium is the largest in the area.
By effectively joining forces, the university and Coliseum are taking a regional approach in booking and promoting Greensboro’s venues.
“We want to plant the seed to position Wake Forest as an alternative market to Greensboro,” Brown said. “We don’t want to lose prospective events to another region. We are honored to have been asked to book events for a competing venue. ”
Greensboro Coliseum will also consult on LJVMC’s $10-million renovation, which is currently underway.
“We want to upgrade LJVMC’s offerings and bring more events to the arena,” Wellman said. “The Greensboro Coliseum folks know what promoters are looking for, so their advice and counsel will be extremely important to us.”
Interviewed for this article: Matt Brown, (336) 373-7406; Ron Wellman, (336) 758-5753