COLUMBUS – The Columbus Crew announced today that it has agreed to terms with Central Ohio’s premier community bank, Heartland Bank, to become a preferred banking partner of the Black & Gold. Heartland Bank will provide banking services for the Crew organization, including Crew Stadium, the Crew Juniors program and the Crew Soccer Foundation, the latter of which will benefit from a donation of a percentage of all purchases from customers utilizing the special Crew-branded debit card. Per club and Major League Soccer policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.
“This partnership is a great opportunity for the Crew to support a like-minded and locally based community asset,” said Crew President & General Manager Mark McCullers. “We are excited to be Heartland Bank’s first professional sports partner and look forward to capitalizing on this momentum to build a better community together, through soccer.”
Founded in 1911 and supported by 11 branches throughout Central Ohio, Heartland Bank’s partnership is the first with a professional sports team in the bank’s century-long history. Among a few of the additional elements of the partnership include a luxury suite, LED field and Crew Stadium signage, digital and video features and in-stadium promotion. As part of Heartland bank’s commitment to the local community, the company also becomes the presenting sponsor of the military appreciation ticket offer, with a portion of proceeds benefitting the USO.
“Being a preferred banking partner of the Columbus Crew is an exciting venture for Heartland,” said Scott McComb, Chairman, President and CEO of Heartland Bank. “Major League Soccer has had tremendous growth locally and nationally and is gaining momentum every day. With youth soccer the largest sport in Columbus, we hope to reach those players and parents with our financial literacy and community bank values".
Crew fans and future Heartland Bank customers can expect to see the club crest as part of the bank’s downtown electronic billboard rotation, on signage at all Heartland Bank branches and digital space on the financial institution’s website.
