Elk Grove Village Dreams Big With Bahamas Bowl Sponsorship

CHICAGO (CBS)--The Mayor of Elk Grove Village says he's already getting the village's money worth after agreeing to pay $300K to sponsor the Bahama Bowl. 

It will now be called the 'Makers Wanted' Bahamas Bowl, which is meant to draw businesses from across the country to the Village's massive Business Park.

'Makers Wanted' is the slogan the village has been using in local ads during Cubs games for a couple of years, and the advertising efforts have paid off.

The village's sponsorship of the bowl game is an attempt to go national with the campaign, Mayor Craig Johnson says, adding that word of the buy is already getting publicity across the U.S.

A small suburban town outside of Chicago, the community of Elk Grove Village doesn't usually come to mind when thinking of college football season.

Village officials have decided to spend $300,000 to make that change by sponsoring the Bahamas Bowl.

Johnson says teaming up with the Bahamas Bowl is a marketing strategy using the village logo 'Makers Wanted'—an offshoot of a local ad campaign that appeared during Cubs games.

He hopes the publicity will help international companies take notice of the town's business park.

"It's all trademarked, so we trademarked it," Johnson said.

The Cubs ad campaign helped drop the park's vacancy rate from 7 to 3 percent, the village says.