fanzone

• fan zone

From fan +‎ zone: Originally a capitalized brand name for an official version of the sports venue and for the website.

fanzone (plural fanzones)

1. (sports) A website that allows fans to chat, post commentary, link to feeds of games, etc, as well as the option to view fan commentary from such a site.
   • 2011, Linda E. Swayne, Mark Dodds, Encyclopedia of Sports Management and Marketing, page 976:

     The site is now highly interactive and features a “fanzone” page with arcade-like games, fan bulletin board and chat rooms, social media links to content on Facebook and Twitter, RSS feeds, video and audio archives, […]

   • 2016, Geoff Ward, Peter J. Anderson, The Future of Journalism in the Advanced Democracies, page 161:

     Each football game was covered by ten cameras and was supplemented by such innovations as instant highlights of a game in progress, the player-cam, the fanzone commentary, the clean feed without commentary and, for the Ryder Cup, the option of the American commentary.

   • 2016, M. Milne, The Transformation of Television Sport: New Methods, New Rules, page 70:

     A fanzone format includes fan access with contributors via Skype, in addition to the usual methods, such as SMS text, email, and Twitter.

   • 2016, Rob Conkie, Writing Performative Shakespeares, page 69:

     On the football (soccer) pitch these include: regular viewing angle; bird's-eye view; goal-to-goal; 'player-cam'; highlights reel; and 'fanzone'.

   • 2019, Andrew Murray, Information Technology Law: The Law and Society, page 272:

     The fanzone allows users to post content including videos, text, audio files, and photographs to extra Time servers based in London to be shared among other fans of sporting clubs,

2. (sports) A venue created for fans of a team, including large screens for watching the game, team-oriented merchandise, and, optionally, other attractions and activities.
   • 2009, International Review for the Sociology of Sport - Volume 44, page 381:

     Zenit St Petersburg won the match but the major news story came from Rangers supporters' behaviour in a 'fanzone' erected at Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens.

   • 2014, Rob Steen, Floodlights and Touchlines: A History of Spectator Sport:

     Then we resumed watching it on big screens again, even bigger screens, in parks and fanzones, even in our team's home stadium when they were playing somewhere far away.

   • 2018, David Kilpatrick, The State of the Field: Ideologies, Identities and Initiatives:

     It also included attending eight World Cup games, including the Japan–US final, and watching most of the rest in large public fanzones.

   • 2021, Kausik Bandyopadhyay, Face to Face: Enduring Rivalries in World Soccer:

     Some of the fighting even sparked off back in downtown Warsaw in the Plac Defilad, where tournament organizers had constructed a fanzone which saw both Russians and Poles conversing and drinking sideby-side peacefully throughout the day.

3. (by extension) A similar venue or website for fans of a performer or band.
   • 2008, Scott Wilson, Great Satan's Rage, page 144:

     […] this rage against the machine comes from bands belonging to the first computer-literate generation, the first generation of bands to develop websites and to benefit from internet marketing and online communities and fanzones.

   • 2013, Leslie Woodhead, How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin, page 204:

     The crowds packed into the “fanzones” were taking the full force of the storm. Even the trusty shopping trolley had to be abandoned as we sloshed our way to a gap in the fence where McCartney's chief gatekeeper, Stuart Bell, was fighting a losing battle with gangs of sodden pressmen.

   • 2023, K G Miles, Paul Metsa, Ed Newman, Bob Dylan in Minnesota:

     London Palladium in October 2022, I hosted a fanzone in The Dylan Room at the London Troubadour Club with Jackie Lees, my co-author for Bob Dylan in London.