Thousands continue to compete for 20 $100,000 first-place prizes
DETROIT, March 21, 2014 – In dramatic fashion, millions of Americans saw their chance at becoming a billionaire disappear in the Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket with Yahoo Sports thanks to a wild second round in the men’s college basketball championship.
Two major upsets busted the majority of all brackets in the contest. Between Dayton defeating Ohio State and Mercer besting Duke, 99 percent of all perfect brackets were eliminated.
“While everyone loves an underdog, you could hear a collective groan around the office each time an upset happened. We knew that meant a lot of the entrants had their brackets bust, and lost their opportunity at the billion dollars,” said Jay Farner, President and Chief Marketing Officer of Quicken Loans, the nation’s second largest mortgage lender. “The good news is that there is still $2 million in guaranteed prize money up for grabs.”
As part of the Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge with Yahoo Sports, Quicken Loans is awarding $100,000 to the 20 best “imperfect” brackets in the contest. There are currently thousands of people who are vying for their share of $2 million in guaranteed prizes.
“While we won’t be creating America’s next billionaire, we are excited that 20 people will still receive a life-changing check for $100,000. That’s still a heck of a payday for filling out a bracket,” Farner added.
In addition, youth charities in Detroit and Cleveland will also receive a total of $1 million to use toward youth education initiatives as part of the contest.
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About Quicken Loans:
Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. is the nation’s second largest retail home mortgage lender. The company closed a record $80 billion of volume across all 50 states in 2013. Quicken Loans generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Scottsdale, Arizona. The company also operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit, as well as its San Diego-based One Reverse Mortgage unit. Quicken Loans ranked #1 in customer satisfaction among all home mortgage lenders in the United States by J.D. Power for the past four consecutive years; 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010.
Quicken Loans was named among the top-30 companies on FORTUNE magazine’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list for the last 11 consecutive years, ranking #5 in 2014. It ranked in the top-15 of Computerworld magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work In Technology” for the past nine years, ranking #1 in 2013. The company moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010, and now more than 8,500 of its 10,000-plus team members work in the city’s urban core. For more information about Quicken Loans, please visit www.quickenloans.com, on Twitter at @QLnews, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/QuickenLoans.