Elk Grove Village Mayor holds the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl trophy on the field, decorated with the Makers Wanted logo before the big game in Nassau, Bahamas Friday, Dec. 20. (Photo by 4Front marketing)

Elk Grove Village sponsored the first ESPN college bowl game of the holiday season the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl Friday, Dec. 20 in Nassau, Bahamas.

The field and stadium were filled with logos and graphics featuring Elk Grove Villages Makers Wanted slogan. This was the second year Elk Grove Village sponsored the game. Ratings and website analytics were not immediately available from ESPN or the villages marketing company, 4Front.

Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said sponsorship of the game is about marketing the village to national and even international audiences. Analytics from the December 2018 Bahamas Bowl shows the village received about $12 million worth of media exposure from the game, Johnson said.

With the novelty of the first non-tourist municipality to sponsor a bowl game over, Johnson said he did not expect to see the same level of buzz about the 2019 Bahamas Bowl, but still believes it will be of value.

Elk Grove Village spent $849,000 on sponsorship of the 2018 and 2019 Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl games, including fees to ESPN, television commercial production and other marketing. Those fees include advertising buys for the presidential election on cable news channels and a marketing contract with the firm 4Front.

Loves Travel Stops & Country Store Real Estate Project Manager Chad Bruner (left) with Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson after an October Elk Grove Village board meeting where a new Loves at 1900 Busse Rd. was approved. Bruner said he learned about the village watching the December 2018 Bahamas Bowl game at home in Oklahoma. (Tom Robb/Journal photo)

Loves Travel Stops & Country Stores is set to open a new location in Elk Grove Village, which Johnson said could be worth $15 to $20 million in tax revenue to the village over 20 years. Officials with Loves say they chose the village after seeing commercials for Elk Grove Village during the 2018 Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl.

Seven Elk Grove Village businesses also donated $50,000 in building materials and supplies to a Nassau-based organization founded to provide a home for children displaced as a result of family problems, who have been abandoned, orphaned or whose primary caregivers are deceased. As part of the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl Charitable Initiative coordinated by the village, Johnson said building supplies including tile, doors, appliances and other items, would be used as Ranfurly Homes expands to meet new demand caused by Dorian. Officials with Ranfurly told Johnson the building supplies were a huge help.

Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson (right) with Alexander Roberts, administrator of the Ranfurly Homes for Children (left) in front of U.S. government provided tents at the Ranfurly Homes in the Bahamas. (Photo provided by 4Front Marketing)

When Johnson arrived at Ranfurly Homes for Children in Nassau during his trip to the Bahamas Bowl, he was shocked to see children displaced by Hurricane Dorian still living in tents provided by the United States.

The children at Ranfurly are from Grand Bahama, one of two islands along with the island of Abaco devastated by the slow moving Category 5 hurricane in September.

Although the islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco were devastated by the hurricane, The Bahamas includes 700 islands over a 10,000-square mile area. Grand Bahama and Abaco are located in the northern part of the island chain.

The capital of Nassau missed the storm, only experiencing minor flooding. Nassau is located on two adjacent islands linked by a bridge in the center on the islands of New Providence, where the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl was played at Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, and the smaller Paradise Island where the event hotel, the Atlantis, is located.

Johnson oversaw a pinball tournament and beach party dance-off between bowl game athletes at the Atlantis. The pinball tournament was hosted by Elk Grove Village-based Stern Pinball. Stern brought Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy pinball machines to the tournament, donating each school one machine each.

Tourism is the Bahamas largest industry. Bahamian officials are eager to dispel the notion that Dorian destroyed all the nations tourist sites.

The game was played between the Bulls of the University of New York at Buffalo and the 49ers from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. The Bulls dominated the 49ers in a 31-9 victory. The offensive player of the game was Bulls running back Jaret Patterson who rushed 32 times for 173 yards and 2 touchdowns.

In attendance with Mayor Johnson at the big game was Mike Brennan, principal at the Brennan Investment Group. Brennan brought along some of his top sales staff as a reward, Johnson said. Commercials aired during the game featuring the new Elk Grove Technology Park along with the villages longtime business park.

A big crowd fills Real Time Sports on Devon Avenue in Elk Grove Village at the official watch party for the village-sponsored ESPN Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl, Friday, Dec. 20. The big screen shows the villages Makers Wanted logo filling the field between the 20 and 30 yard lines. (Tom Robb/Journal photo)

Back in Elk Grove Village, a few hundred people gathered at Real Time Sports Bar for the official watch party, including village staffers, public works crews and others. Village staffers dressed in bright blue Bahamas Bowl T-shirts greeted those attending the event and gave away prizes.

Bigger cheers at Real Time did not go up when major plays were made on the gridiron, but when one of four commercials for the village aired. The broadcast also showed B-Roll from the pinball tournament and beach bash.

Colleen Heniff, a freshman at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (right), home in Lombard on winter break from school, sits with her father Bill to cheer on UNC Charlotte 49ers at the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl official watch party at Real Time Sports Friday, Dec. 20. Tom Robb/Journal photo)

One who made the trip to Real Time Sports was Colleen Heniff, a freshman at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, who was home in Lombard on winter break from school. She came to the viewing party with her father Bill to cheer on her team.

Although the crowd thinned after halftime when the Bulls were up 17-0, Real Time manager Ben Cirrincione said the bar was two-to-three-times busier than normal. He said he expected the Bahamas Bowl to be the busiest of all the ESPN college football bowl games.

Village staffers clad in Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl gear welcome guests at the official watch party for the bowl game at Real Time Sports last Friday, Dec. 20. (From left) Jenn Mahon, Kathy Hahn, Giordan Kaplan, Bolor Bat-Erdem and Brianna Bacigalupo. Tom Robb/Journal photo)

Even the Bahamas Bowl could not escape the reach of Elk Grove Villages retroactive term limits referendum debate. Concerned Citizens of Elk Grove Village chairman Tim Burns confirmed his group paid to run an advertisement through Comcast in the Chicago market. An illuminated truck with messages advocating term limits also circled the parking lot outside the viewing party.

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Second Year Of ESPN, Elk Grove Village Marketing Partnership On The Books - Journal & Topics Newspapers Online