The Crew announces Lower.com as new stadium naming rights partner

Throughout the team’s 26-year history, the Columbus Crew has had two homes, Ohio Stadium and Crew Stadium, which was eventually renamed MAPFRE Stadium. In early July, the Black & Gold will move into the club’s third-ever home with the new stadium in downtown Columbus.

On Tuesday, that new stadium received its new name. Crew fans, welcome to your new home of Lower.com Field.

“We are proud to partner with Lower in naming our new Stadium,” Crew owner-investor operator Dee Haslam said. “Dan Snyder’s leadership and vision align so strongly with the goals of the Crew. Lower is a world class company, rooted in Columbus, renowned for their culture and fully invested in giving back to our community. Lower.com Field will provide our players a home-field advantage and our supporters a best-in-class experience. In addition to match days, we are immensely excited that Lower.com Field will be the cornerstone of a new live, work, and play neighborhood in Astor Park. On behalf of the Haslam and Edwards Families, we look forward to working together to make a sustainable and positive difference in Columbus and for our supporters.”

Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio in 2018, Lower.com is an online direct mortgage lender. The company touts a full-service home buying experience, pairing customers with loan advisors providing personal advice on the end-to-end process.

Lower.com has grown meteorically, increasing to over 800 employees in its three-year existence. With this growth, the upstart company opened a new headquarters in the Columbus suburb of New Albany, Ohio in early 2020.

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“We have nearly 1,000 local team members, have funded billions in loans, and have been named the top workplace in Columbus, and yet, we’re still relatively unknown as a company, Lower CEO Dan Snyder said. “So, this partnership, to some extent, is the coming out party for our brand. Very few companies ever get to name a stadium, let alone a brand new one, in their hometown. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity. On behalf of my partners and the entire team, we couldn’t be more excited to open up Lower.com Field to the city of Columbus on July 3.”

By partnering with Lower.com, the Crew, under the new ownership group of Dee and Jimmy Haslam and longtime team doctor Pete Edwards, deepens the team’s ties with the local business community. In the two and a half years under this new ownership, the Black & Gold landed a partnership with Nationwide Insurance for jersey sponsorships and furthered their longtime partnership with OhioHealth, whose name now sits on the team’s recently-opened training facility.

In addition to the OhioHealth Performance Center naming right, the Crew also recently deepened its long-standing partnership with AEP, whose corporate headquarters can be seen from the new Lower.com Field. The team also added Columbus-based Vertiv as another Central Ohio-based founding partner earlier in 2021.

Following in the steps of MAPFRE Insurance, Lower.com becomes the second stadium naming rights partner in the history of the Black & Gold. After opening in 1999, Crew Stadium went without a name sponsor for the first 16 years of its existence. Prior to the 2015 Major League Soccer season, Columbus announced the partnership with MAPFRE, who remained the name on the stadium until 2021.

Lower.com Field is located in the Arena District of downtown Columbus. It sits on Nationwide Blvd., just west of the Columbus Blue Jacket’s Nationwide Arena and the Columbus Clippers’ Huntington Park. Lower.com Field will officially open its doors on July 3 when the New England Revolution — the same team that helped debut historic Crew Stadium — comes to town.