Quicken Loans on Thursday announced a five-year sponsorship with the Lions beginning this season that lets the Detroit-based mortgage lender "have prominent signage throughout" Ford Field, as well as a "first-of-its-kind seating section for its employees near the player tunnel," according to Michael Martinez of the DETROIT NEWS. Up to 62 Quicken Loans employees at each home game can sit "in a special seating section." They can "relax in overstuffed black leather recliners embroidered with the Quicken Loans logo." An HD LCD TV will be "mounted in front of each seat" in the section, which "is not open to the public." Additionally, Quicken Loans will have "signage on the team’s parking structure overlooking I-375, throughout Ford Field, on microphones and interview backdrops and on the player tunnel tarp." The company also will "sponsor the North Club lounge" at the stadium (DETROIT NEWS, 9/6). The Lions said that the seats are for their eight home games each season and "select events at Ford Field." The seats are "being installed in time for Sunday's home opener" against the Vikings. Another aspect of the deal will be Quicken Loans' status as the team's "official mortgage lender." Also, the tunnel between the locker room and the field "will be lined with vinyl graphics provided by Detroit-based Fathead," which is also owned by Quicken Loans Founder & Chair Dan Gilbert (CRAINSDETROIT.com, 9/5). Quicken Loans President & CMO Jay Farner said that the goal of the special seating section, called the Dream Seats, was to "create a special experience for some of the nearly 10,000 employees of Quicken and its spin-off firms now based in downtown Detroit" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 9/6).
