Free food and extra cash are just some of the things students find new appreciation of in college. Red Alert, the official sports fan club for Washington University students, is offering both this Friday, Feb. 20. As part of a Pack the Place event promoting the men’s basketball game against Brandeis University, Red Alert will provide free pizza and drinks from 7:15-8:00 p.m. This week, in addition to the usual free pizza, Red Alert will also give students a chance to enter and win the Coca-Cola $10,000 Contest and compete for an air hockey table.

Members of Red Alert have been spreading word of the contest all over campus. Maybe you read the posters at the Athletic Complex, picked up the red flyer and tickets that were slid under your dorm room door, or were handed a fake check as you strolled through Mallinckrodt on your way to class. However, the group will not release specific details on how to win the contest. The only way to find out more is attend the game at the Field House in the Athletic Complex and sign up for the contest.

At 7:15 p.m., registration begins and free pizza will be served. Red Alert asks that hungry members come wearing their Red Alert shirts. To be eligible for the contest, students must also present their student IDs. Sign up will end promptly at 7:50 p.m., and the contest will take place during halftime of the men’s game. Red Alert members must be present to win.

All undergraduate students are invited to become Red Alert members. While at the game, anyone not yet a member can easily sign up for free, and they will receive a Red Alert shirt. Upon joining, members gain access to all Red Alert events and offerings, including prizes, road trips and special events.

Red Alert will also be working with the CS40 Friday night. Students who belong to a Residential College are encouraged to sign in at the CS40 table in the main entrance of the A.C. because the Residential College recording the highest percentage of students in attendance will win an air hockey table as well as points towards the Residential College Olympics.

Red Alert has also arranged for students to watch the game on cable. Red Alert has recently been exploring the WUTV venue. “Wake Up Wash U” broadcasted women’s basketball on Feb. 6 in its 80-40 domination over Carnegie Mellon University, which was Red Alert’s most recent Pack the Place event. This weekend’s games will be broadcast live on WUTV, channel 22.

Admission to the games is free for all University students, but they have not always been treated to free pizza because Red Alert is a relatively new organization. A committee aimed at promoting University athletic events had existed in some form on and off for the past 15 years. However, last year a group of students still dissatisfied with the turn out at sporting events decided to take the sports promotion committee to a new level and formed what is now Red Alert.

“Last year I was asked by a friend to help with the committee, so I began going to meetings,” said senior James Ward, a captain for the men’s soccer team and student director of Red Alert. “Around March I realized that although the progress was good it wasn’t sufficient if we wanted things to really take off.

Ward thought the committee would be better off changing its entire marketing strategy and the way it went about things. Therefore, he presented to the administration “a proposal on, among other things, how Red Alert should become a sports fan club, as it would be more organized and could be more effective.”

“They liked it, and everything went from there,” Ward said. “Although the structure and focus is quite different now, the same spirit and passion that started the group is still the driving force of Red Alert.”

This year Red Alert is committed to organizing one “Pack the Place” event for each of the 12 varsity teams.

“Through Pack the Place events Red Alert encourages student attendance by providing pizza, beverages, music and fun in a tailgating-type atmosphere immediately prior to the events,” said Ward.

In addition to Pack the Place events, Red Alert tries to offer fans the opportunity to travel to University playoff games on the road. For example, a handful of Red Alert members traveled to Chicago for a women’s soccer playoff game last fall.

Red Alert also tries to reach families of University faculty and staff and even targets the local communities. The group often distributes flyers and tickets to kids at area schools to attract them to athletic events.

In its first year as a fan club, Red Alert has seen the average attendance at athletic events increase by 300% over previous years. Roughly a third of the student body has already joined Red Alert, and the numbers grow with each new event.

The Red Alert committee meets briefly almost every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Residential Life Center on the South Forty in order to plan for its upcoming events. Ward invites everyone who is interested in helping with Red Alert to simply show up at a meeting. Students can also email the committee at [email protected] to find out more.

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