Hunter Hayes Concert Canceled

"Winston-Salem, NC (Sept. 14, 2015) – Due to a tour scheduling conflict, the Hunter Hayes concert originally scheduled for Nov. 19 at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum has been canceled.

Ticketholders may obtain refunds at their respective point of purchase. 

For information on upcoming events at LJVM please visit www.ljvm.com."

- A Press Release

JOAN SEBASTIAN in concert

H entertainment presents

JOAN SEBASTIAN

in concert

Saturday, February 14

LJVM

Tickets on sale Friday at 10AM!

(WINSTON-SALEM, NC) -  Popular Mexican multi Grammy award winning singer and songwriter Joan Sebastian will perform in concert at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, February 14 at 8 p.m.

Sebastian has composed hundreds of songs and been a regular staple on the top-40 charts in Mexico since his career began in 1977.

Tickets will go on sale Friday, December 19 at 10 a.m. at www.ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster outlets, charge-by-phone at
1-800-745-3000, the Greensboro Coliseum box office and Bridger Field House box office.

- A Press Release

Outsourcing booking at Joel integrates Triad entertainment market

All sides are insisting that the deal unveiled last week to outsource booking of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem to the staff at the Greensboro Coliseum is a good leverage of the Piedmont Triad’s regional entertainment market and not a setback for each city’s parochial interests.

“When you put this type of creativity together with facilities that are really not duplicated over at our place and you mesh together the type of energy that really is incumbent on Wake Forest,” Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins said, “then you’ve got something special.”

The Winston-Salem City Council forfeited any control over booking at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum with the recent sale of the facility to Wake Forest University, which was looking for a permanent home for Demon Deacons basketball.

Ron Wellman, director of athletics for Wake Forest University, said hiring out booking to Greensboro Coliseum was among three options, which included hiring a national agency or standing up an in-house staff.

“We were just looking for the best scenario to have the type of events we feel that this city could attract,” Wellman said. “We believe the Greensboro Coliseum has the ability, reputation and proven success to help us meet our goals. Once we talked to them it became an easy decision.”

Greensboro Coliseum is significantly larger than its counterpart to the west, seating more than 20,000 people for basketball games, compared to 14,500 at the Joel.

Wellman said he has no concerns about the staff in Greensboro taking first dibs on premier acts in the pipeline for Winston-Salem; the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum has in the past landed high-caliber if not top-selling acts such as Bob Dylan and Elton John.

“They recognize that while most of the time the two different venues have traditionally attracted different types of acts, there has been some spillover,” Wellman said. “We are very confident that they are going to represent us in an exceptional way. Often, a great act will be available, but one or the other venue will not be available. If the Greensboro Coliseum is not available, then they have the opportunity to switch them over here.”

Spokesman Andrew Brown declined to comment on whether the arrangement creates a conflict of interest for the Greensboro Coliseum, which holds a fiduciary duty to generate maximum revenue for the city of Greensboro but will collect a $115,000 base management fee from Wake Forest University.

“If Taylor Swift is interested in playing this market and we already have a UNCG Spartans game or a convention, that gives us another option,” he said.

“There are some events that have played there that we’ll continue to do there,” Brown continued. “We’ve had artists play in Greensboro and the tour went well, but you don’t want to overplay the market. It might make sense for someone to come to Greensboro and in two or three years they’ll play Winston-Salem.”

Brown said he’s not aware of any other arrangement like it in the country.

For both facilities, booking the maximum number of nights helps defray the monster costs of maintenance.

“There are a number of dates that the coliseum is dark, and that’s typical with any coliseum,” Wellman said. “Every date it is not used is a missed opportunity. And we want to take full advantage of every opportunity we have.”

Fine print in agreement to sell coliseum allows for removal of Joel name

Lawrence Joel

UPDATE: City Manager Lee Garrity and City Attorney Angela Carmon disputed the characterization in this blog post of language in the restrictive covenant as a "loophole." They confirmed that the agreement gives the city the power to approve the termination of a so-called "memorial term." That action, under the agreement, would lift restrictions against removing the Joel name and veterans memorial name from the marquee sign and the stone facade.

Garrity, via e-mail: "During the many public meetings we had on this important issue, we heard from some veterans and some supporters of Lawrence Joel that expressed concerns about the current Joel memorial. Concerns about the order of monuments, a desire for a statue to Lawrence Joel on the plaza, a missing plaque from the original coliseum and others were voiced. Because of these concerns, we very purposely added the clause you refer to below. That clause gives us the option, with approval of city council, to build a new memorial. Although there is no plan to do such, we wanted to make sure the veterans, the Joel family and community reserved such a right.

ORIGINAL POST: The Winston-Salem City Council will consider a proposal to sell Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum to Wake Forest University and Bowman Gray Stadium to Winston-Salem State University tonight.

One of a handful of items of contention has been whether Wake Forest University would agree to retain the name Lawrence Joel, a Winston-Salem native who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valor during an intense firefight in Vietnam, and the words "veterans memorial" on the coliseum. The university previously agreed to keep Lawrence Joel's name in the lobby and on the plaza memorial flanking the entrance of the facility, but wanted to reserve naming rights to defray the cost of maintenance.

Then, the university reversed course, and made an agreement publicized by the city more than a week ago to keep the Lawrence Joel name and veterans memorial designation on the coliseum facade and marquee sign on University Parkway as part of any potential transfer of ownership.  

A Declaration of Restrictive Covenants and Conditions prepared by City Attorney Angela Carmon includes a significant loophole governing the preservation of the Lawrence Joel name. The declaration essentially states that the names "Lawrence Joel" and "veterans memorial" will remain on the marquee sign and the rectangular stone facade above the facility entrance during a period referenced as "the memorial term."

The "memorial term" language appears to give the city, as grantor (or seller) of the property, the ability to lift the restrictions on the university, as grantee (or buyer), at any time.

To wit:

The grantor has agreed in writing to end the Memorial Term, in the event that Grantor and Grantee have agreed on an alternative way to memorialize Lawrence Joel and war veterans. In the event of a termination pursuant to the previous sentence, Grantor shall on request from Grantee, confirm such termination in an instrument in recordable form, which Grantee may cause to be recorded in the Forsyth County Registry.

City Manager Lee Garrity deflected questions by stating in an e-mail to YES! Weekly that "the terms are fully explained in the declaration." Hopefully council members have taken a hard look at the proposed deal before they cast their votes. 

Lawrence Joel name to remain on coliseum

The name of Lawrence Joel, a Vietnam war veteran who earned the Congressional Medal of honor for saving the lives of at least 13 soldiers during a 24-hour firefight, will remain on both the coliseum facade and marquee, according to an agreement between the city of Winston-Salem and Wake Forest University.

Biography here.

Press release:

Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Name to Remain
on Coliseum Building and Marquee

        Winston-Salem and Wake Forest University officials agreed today to keep the Lawrence Joel name and veterans memorial designation on the coliseum facade and on the marquee as part of any sale of the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum to Wake Forest.

        This is in addition to Wake Forest’s previous agreement to name the lobby and the adjacent veterans’ monuments as the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Lobby and Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Plaza.
        Wake Forest University has agreed to include these provisions into recorded deed restrictions approved with any sale. The restrictions would apply to the permanent sign at the current main entrance, to any replacement marquee and to the current coliseum building, where Joel’s name is carved in the stone facade above the box office.
        Joel, an Army medic during the Vietnam War, was the first living African American to receive the Medal of Honor for heroism in battle since the Spanish American War. He also received a Silver Star. The veterans memorial outside the coliseum recognizes all Forsyth County veterans killed service to their country.
        The city has the right to consider future enhancements to the veterans memorial and to explore other ways to recognize Lawrence Joel’s and all veterans’ contributions to Winston-Salem, either at the coliseum or as a stand-alone memorial. Wake Forest has agreed to donate up to one acre at the coliseum site for this purpose if the City Council elects to create an new veterans memorial. Wake Forest may pursue naming rights, but the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial designation will remain on the facade and marquee.
        Mayor Allen Joines said, “The Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial name will continue to be etched in stone at the coliseum, and the recognition that the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Lobby and Plaza remains on this property illustrates the city’s and Wake Forest University’s commitment to the heritage and legacy of Mr. Joel and our veterans.”
        Council Member and Mayor Pro Tempore Vivian H. Burke, who voted to name the coliseum for Joel in 1986, said, “I have made it clear that the city’s commitment to addressing concerns about how Mr. Joel will be recognized was unwavering and would not be compromised. I am pleased our voice has been heard.”

Winston-Salem council moves toward sale of coliseum and stadium in racially divided vote

City Manager Lee Garrity and former Alderman Virginia K. Newell

Voting along racial lines, a narrow majority of Winston-Salem City Council directed staff to move forward with the sales of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Bowman Gray Stadium today.

The proposed sale of the two city facilities to separate universities yokes together two transactions that tap into an undercurrent of racial division, while satisfying and antagonizing a complicated mix of constituencies — on one hand offloading the coliseum to Wake Forest University in a deal that could downgrade the name of an honored black native son, and on the other handing off the stadium to Winston-Salem State University and discomforting predominantly white car-racing fans who patronize the facility.

Councilwoman Wanda Merschel, who represents the Northwest Ward, made the motion during a committee of the whole meeting today to bring the proposed sale to council for consideration at its next meeting on May 20. Councilwoman Molly Leight, who represents the South Ward, seconded the motion. Council members Robert Clark and Dan Besse, who respectively represent the West and Southwest Wards, also supported the measure.

Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Burke and Councilman Derwin Montgomery, respectively representing the Northeast and East Wards, abstained, while Southeast Ward Councilman James Taylor Jr. voted in opposition. North Ward Councilwoman Denise D. Adams was not present for the vote.

"Most of the pain of selling the coliseum has to do with potentially losing the name Lawrence Joel," Leight acknowledged. 

Joel was an African-American Army medic and Winston-Salem native who won the Congressional Medal Honor during the Vietnam war for saving the lives of at least 13 American soldiers during a firefight with Viet Cong forces in Bien Hoa province in 1965. Joel was recognized for crawling across the battlefield with a plasma bag under enemy firefight, self-medicating himself after getting shot twice during a 24-hour firefight.  

The meeting was attended by former Alderman Virginia K. Newell, who made the motion in 1986 to name the coliseum after Joel, and Martha Wood, a former mayor who also played a role in honoring the Army medic.

"The black community looks at it as something good that we have given the city," Newell told City Manager Lee Garrity in the hallway outside a committee room in City Hall after the vote. "Make them keep the name."

Garrity responded, "They want the naming rights."

Wood urged council members to reconsider their decision in an e-mail today.

"If the city council is willing to forfeit this community war memorial and sell the right to change the name of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, then you have an obligation to the citizens to present simultaneously a plan that will preserve with dignity, honor and in perpetuity a significant memorial to our veterans and Lawrence Joel, who earned the country's highest military honor.

"As we embark on our centennial celebration," Wood added, "it's appropriate to reconsider with care and diligence where and how the current proposals lead us."

As part of any potential sale of the coliseum, Wake Forest University has agreed to retain the name "Lawrence Joel veterans memorial" in the main lobby and two outside plazas that flank the entrance, and to maintain information about Joel on the facility's website. Otherwise, the university would receive all other naming rights for the facility.

As part of the vote today, council has directed staff to look into whether the university would agree to retain Joel's name on the electronic marquee sign on University Parkway.

Wake Forest University Athletics Director Ron Wellman told YES! Weekly last week that the only way the university can make the deal work is through the sale of naming rights to a corporate sponsor considering that the facility loses money and needs significant capital improvements such as a new HVAC system.

The city has appraised the coliseum at $33.1 million. After deducting $8 million for operating savings, $14.3 million for capital needs avoidance, $1 million for events and lease commitments, and $1.8 million for deed restrictions, the city is offering the facility for a purchase price of $8 million. That's roughly the amount that the city needs to pay off the debt on the building.

"We are not going to be profitable with this coliseum," Wellman told council members tonight. "We view this as an investment in our growth. It is an investment in our basketball program."

In contrast, Winston-Salem State University has agreed to a restrictive covenant requiring the name Bowman Gray to be retained at the stadium. Gray, who was white, was the former president and chairman of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. 

Unlike the coliseum, the stadium breaks even. The city appraised the stadium at $9.9 million. After deducting $2.5 million for capital needs avoidance, $1.7 million for environmental factors, $750,000 for event and lease commitments and $750,000 for deed restrictions, the city is offering the facility to the university for $4.3 million.

Council members leaning towards the sales offered different rationales for unloading the properties.

"The original question is, why are we considering selling the coliseum?" Besse said. "The truth is that we're looking at it because it's eating up $400,000 of taxpayers' money every year."

Clark said, in contrast, that if he ultimately votes for the sale of the coliseum and the stadium, it will not be because of money.

"Should we be in the coliseum business?" he asked. "Should we be in the stadium business? My gut feeling is that it's not our core business. The university is not going to earn a profit off of this, but it benefits them because it helps create the total college experience for their students. They can make the improvements without us having to go to the taxpayers. Wake Forest University has to go tap their alumni for the new HVAC."

Merschel said she is eager to see both Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem enhance their respective brands through televised sporting events at the coliseum.

Taylor drew the strongest line, stating that the coliseum should retain Joel's name if the city sells it. But Wellman gave no indication that the university was willing to budge on that point.

When asked after the vote what level of commitment he would need from Wake Forest University to the Lawrence Joel name, including marquee sign placement and reference during televised sporting events, Taylor didn't hesitate.

"All of it," he said.