Home Depot Furnishes Final Four Lounges, Donates Items to Host Communities

The sofas and tables used by college basketball's elite players during Final Four week didn't sit in storage when the games ended. Home Depot, the Official Home Improvement Partner for March Madness, furnished player lounges at both Final Four host sites, in Indianapolis and Phoenix, then redirected that furniture to nonprofits and community organizations in those cities once the tournament concluded.

The activation put Home Depot product in front of a national audience during one of college sports' highest-viewership stretches, but the back half was the donation sequence. Furniture that spent the week in player lounges was transferred to local community recipients, a model the company's sports marketing team positioned as central to how it approaches large-scale partnerships.

"For us, a sports partnership isn't just about visibility," said Heather Dade Themelis, Senior Manager of Sports Marketing. "It's an opportunity to show up for the communities where sports bring people together."

For store teams in Indianapolis and Phoenix markets, the initiative involved ground-level execution: coordinating product transport, supporting donation drop-offs, and connecting with the receiving organizations. Those activations fall within the Team Depot volunteer framework, giving associates a direct link between a high-profile national event and neighborhood-level impact.

Store managers in host markets should watch for corporate communications when their location is identified for logistics support in future cycles. Associates can be nominated for donation coordination roles, and the program offers a concrete way to connect store teams to Home Depot Foundation community giving work. Stores that execute well on donation logistics have also used the visibility to generate local earned media.

Placing furniture in player lounges during the Final Four gave Home Depot national exposure during one of college sports' most-watched weekends. Donating it to community organizations immediately afterward gave the same activation a second life.