Wisconsin-based Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. announced Wednesday a multiyear partnership with Major League Baseball‘s Milwaukee Brewers.
Fairway will have signage placed throughout the Brewers’ home stadium, American Family Field, and will participate in multiple off-the-field Brewers initiatives, such as the Brewers Community Foundation’s food drive on May 4.
One of Fairway’s electronic signs at the stadium reads “Home.com, by Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation.” The company does, in fact, own the domain name home.com as well as fairwayindependentmc.com.
Fairway will also co-sponsor the Brewers Community Foundation’s Habitat for Humanity efforts, and will partner with the team in its ongoing initiative to provide service dogs to veterans returning to civilian life.
Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, Fairway is a full-service mortgage lender with more than 400 branches nationwide. The company funded $65.8 billion in mortgages in 2020 — up from $38 billion in 2019 — and has funded nearly $19 billion so far in 2021. The company has also increased its volume every year from 2013.
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Fairway certainly isn’t the only lender to partner with a professional sports franchise, whether it be through airtime during a game broadcast, signage in and around a stadium, and more lucratively, stadium naming rights.
Several lenders have major sponsorships with Major League Baseball teams, including LoanDepot’s nearly $10 million a year-contract for naming rights of the Miami Marlins’ stadium, now called LoanDepot Park. LoanDepot will also be the official presenting sponsor of the League Championship Series until 2025.
Other Major League Baseball teams with a lender-stadium partnership are the New York Mets, who play their home games at Citi Field in Queens, and the Chicago White Sox, who play their home games at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Guaranteed Rate also announced in 2020 it would be the National Hockey League’s official mortgage company. The Las Vegas Golden Knights, the leagues’ newest hockey franchise, is owned by fintech company Black Knight.
Quicken Loans, which developed Rocket Mortgage, has exclusive naming rights — the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse — to the arena for the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Team owner Dan Gilbert recently sold $500 million worth of Rocket stock to invest into Detroit community organizations.
Rocket Mortgage is also the official brokerage of the National Football League, and has a partnership with the Los Angeles Rams. The two are joining together to convert a luxury home into the Ram’s NFL Draft headquarters. Following the draft – the selection of college players to join the NFL — Rocket Mortgage and the Rams will launch a sweepstakes for four fans to stay in the “Rocket Mortgage Draft House” for three days.
Rocket Mortgage spent a sizeable chunk of cash for two Super Bowl ads back in February. United Wholesale Mortgage also bought airtime during the game.
Sofi also has the naming rights of the Rams and Los Angeles Chargers new stadium in Inglewood, California
