Real March Madness
Warren Buffett wants to make you the next billionaire
Am I the only one who rolls their eyes throughout most of March Madness because of "those people" who claim to have a perfect bracket? Well, time for them to prove it.
Detroit-based Quicken Loans has joined forces with Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway to offer a chance at a $1 billion prize for completing the perfect bracket in this year's NCAA men's college basketball championship tournament.
Contest participants with a perfect bracket at the end of this year's tournament — held April 5-7 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington — will get $1 billion prize paid in 40 annual installments of $25 million. There is also the option of receiving an immediate $500 million lump sum payment or share in that lump sum if there is more than one perfect bracket.
That's right. If more than one person has a perfect bracket, they have to share the cash. I feel sorry for them, don't you?
The winning doesn't stop there. Quicken Loans will also award $100,000 each to the contest's 20 most accurate "imperfect" brackets to use toward buying, refinancing or remodeling a home.
"We've seen a lot of contests offering a million dollars for putting together a good bracket, which got us thinking, what is the perfect bracket worth? We decided a billion dollars seems right for such an impressive feat," said Jay Farner, president and chief marketing officer of Quicken Loans, in a statement.
"It is our mission to create amazing experiences for our clients. This contest, with the possibility of creating a billionaire, definitely fits that bill."
"Millions of people play brackets every March, so why not take a shot at becoming $1 billion richer for doing so?" added Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, who is insuring the contest's grand prize. "While there is no simple path to success, it sure doesn't get much easier than filling out a bracket online.
"To quote a commercial from one of my companies, I'd dare say it's so easy to enter that even a caveman can do it."
According to the contest's Facebook page, the contest begins March 3 and ends March 19.
