How a New Bowl Sponsorship Came Together During a Pandemic

As a college football bowl executive, losing your title sponsor is never a good thing.

Losing your title sponsor during a pandemic is a worse thing.

“That was tough,” says Mike Nealy, Fiesta Bowl organization executive director.

When Cheez-It in March dropped its sponsorship of the Cactus Bowl, which the Fiesta Bowl also operates, Nealy began a search for a replacement during the worst pandemic in 100 years, a time when businesses were reducing costs, not shelling out millions for postseason football games.

Thankfully for him, he found one that’s actually growing despite the COVID-19 situation.

The Cactus Bowl is now the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, changing its name to match its new sponsor, Guaranteed Rate, one of the largest retail mortgage lenders in the U.S., based in Chicago.

Courtesy of Guaranteed Rate Bowl

While much of the economy has slowed to a halt during the pandemic, the housing market is roaring, and so are lending companies like Guaranteed Rate, says Victor Ciardelli, the founder and CEO. Guaranteed Rate is on pace to double its loan amounts in 2020 (from $37 billion in 2019) and triple its gross revenue ($1 billion to $3 billion).

“I feel terrible for a lot of companies out there, but we’re going to grow the company by 200% this year,” he says. “Interest rates went down. At the same time, people are in their homes and they are identifying all the things they need about their house. We need a study or an extra bedroom or a bigger yard.

“There’s been a housing boom. People are buying homes like crazy.”

The low mortgage rates and the shift in how people use their homes (many of them now for work) are behind the phenomenon. The reduction in mortgage rates began falling in mid-March after the Federal Reserve announced it would buy mortgage bonds to keep credit flowing amid the pandemic. Home sales have jumped 25% to more than 5.5 million in July, which was the highest sales level since 2006 and the biggest monthly jump on record.

In 2020, Guaranteed Rate’s “Growing For Good” campaign has raised over $4 million for food banks and distributed 50,000 masks to frontline workers.

“We’re very conscious of the environment and the needs,” Ciardelli says

The bowl game, meanwhile, is the company’s first foray into football-centric sponsorships. The company already dabbles in NASCAR, IndyCar, UFC, MLB and NHL. The Guaranteed Rate Bowl holds a certain distinction this year: It is the only bowl pitting the Big 12 against the Big Ten, a change made this season and a matchup the game hosted from 2006 to '13. For the last six years, the bowl featured teams from the Pac-12 and Big 12.

Nealy is excited about the new matchup—after all, the three most-attended bowl games featured Big Ten–Big 12 pairings—but he’s even happier about his new title sponsor, one he landed during, of all things, a pandemic.

“You looked at it as ‘This is a mountain to climb!’” he says. “We knew we were looking for a title sponsor, there could be some hurdles, but it worked out and you have an organization looking to grow.”